Be The Hero, Like A Wizard!

by MaskedEngineer

Having a Quirk that allows complete control over a mundane, ordinary object is hardly an ideal power. To one Yosuke Nendo however, it is all he needs to achieve his childhood dream. With video game expertise, unchecked delusions and unwilling friends, nothing shall stop Nendo on his quest to become the greatest wizard of all time! Rated M for future events.

4. Forming The Fellowship

Chapter 4: Forming the Fellowship

When the sun has risen high enough to illuminate the sky a bright blue, Nendo's slumber has led to him doing the most uncomfortable sleeping position known to man, with his legs propped up against Izuku's bed while his head has edged away from the mattress and touching the floor. Despite having such an awkward pose, Nendo appears to be sleeping through it all the same, even with the sun's rays beating down on him. His full head of hair was splayed out in all of its messy glory, while his hairtie lies discarded on top of the box.

Once the clock hits seven on his phone however, the device plays the pre-set alarm, signifying that it is time for its owner to wake up. Nendo's brain immediately identified the alarm as the background music in the overworld of Arcane Quest, and his eyes snap open. With his peaceful face rapidly morphing into a more wild expression, Nendo leaped out of his mattress.

"WOO! It's Entrance Exam time! The time has come!" He hollered, full of energy. "Yo, Izu! It's your big day!" He turned around to face the greenette.

Or at least, he thinks Izuku is there. The moment he turns around, there was no Izuku. Only an empty bed with the blanket neatly folded into a roll. "Oh." Red-faced that he just called out to someone who isn't even around, Nendo recomposes himself before rearranging his pillow into a more organized position and dusting off the duvet clean of lint balls and hair. The hairs are mostly his but some strands of green could be found as well.

After Nendo finishes making his bed, he heads out of the room, swinging the door open with a confident glint in his eyes and a wide grin. Inko was having her breakfast by the table, chewing on a simple piece of buttered toast. She quickly spotted Nendo and waved at him in a welcoming manner. "Good morning, Nendo! How are you feeling?"

"As good as I'll ever be, Mrs. Midoriya! Your futon feels so freakin' good to sleep on!" Said Nendo cheerfully, stretching and popping his joints. "By the way, do you have any idea where Izu go?" He asks as he pulled out a chair and sat down, rapping his fingers against the table surface.

"Oh, he's out training again, like usual. Though, I'm not sure if he needs to be away that early. The exam hasn't even opened yet." Inko remarked, craning her neck up to peek at the clock hanging on the wall. "There's still two hours left! I know he's doing all this to prepare for the exam, but I sometimes wish he slept more. Waking up at the crack of dawn to do whatever is something I expected from my husband, rather."

Knowing the circumstances surrounding Izuku, Nendo felt his tongue pressed against the roof of his mouth as he tried to shook off any suspicion Inko may have shot at him. He dislikes having to hide things from a woman as sweet and kind as her, but he felt like her heart isn't ready for news as shocking as her son being under the tutelage of All Might himself. Thus, he kept quiet. "I'm sure it's nothing, Mrs. Midoriya. Besides, exercising makes him more healthy, right? Isn't that what every parent wants for their kid?"

"You're talking like you know what's he doing, Nendo." Inko jokingly suggested, not realizing that her words have made Nendo sweat not bullets, but cannonballs. Biting his lip in secret, Nendo cursed at his runaway mouth.

"W-Well, why wouldn't I know what he's doing? I'm friends with him all the way back to elementary!" Nendo weakly claimed, his eyes flickering as to whether he should avoid her gaze or not. Eventually, he takes a third option and stood up with enough speed to nearly topple his chair. "Oops! I'll be right back with you, Mrs. Midoriya. Just gotta give myself a few refreshments. Can't go out with a morning hair." He said, daintily tip-toeing towards the bathroom.

Inko initially thought none of it, save for a very puzzled look she's giving Nendo, but the mere mention of his overgrown mop of hair that is even messier than Izuku's quickly throws any intention of turning a blind eye out of the window. "Please don't tell me you're going to the Entrance Exam with that, ahem, 'style'." She pointed out.

"Oh, uh...this? I mean, it's kind of hard to afford a barber when you're broke in every sense of the word." Lamented Nendo, emptying his pockets to further emphasize that there is nothing on him that is of monetary value. "It's alright, though. Just tie it up and everything's dandy!"

"You mean...a ponytail?!" Exclaimed Inko, her voice both shocked and appalled.

"Erm...yeah? Is there something wrong with that?" He asked, genuinely confused as to why Inko reacts in such a way.

"I...just don't think showing up in a ponytail would be very immaculate." She replied in a significantly quieter tone, fidgeting. "Not to say that a ponytail isn't nice, but I would prefer if your hair's a little less...lice-prone?"

"Hmm...yeah, you have a point." Nendo nodded in agreement. She's not wrong: having a ponytail does make him look a tad more laidback than what is to be expected from students. It may have been acceptable during his tenure as a middle-school dropout, but now? He needed something more sensible, and yes, less attracting to parasitic insects. "Well, unless you're willing to bring me to a hair salon, then-"

Whatever Nendo was about to say was cut off when an idea pops out as a result of the rusty cogs in his mind finally started shifting. "Heeeeey, why don't YOU be the hairdresser? Doesn't cost anything, AND you get to chisel your fashion senses!" Not necessarily a genius one, but it was enticing enough of an offer...

"Oh, I'm so glad you asked! I used to cut Izuku's hair all the time when he was little, it's been so long! Get in the bathroom, I'll be right there with you!" ...for Inko to jump on the bandwagon as well. Finishing her toast, Inko charges into her room in the blink of an eye.

"That explains a lot." Thought Nendo, reminding himself of Izuku's own hairstyle as he was left looking rather befuddled at how brisk of a walking pace Inko has for a woman her age. Shrugging it off, Nendo takes a chair with him into the bathroom as requested.

Inko reemerges shortly after with a pair of scissors, a comb, a curling rod, several bottles of hair tonic and a cape that looks suspiciously like a modified cooking apron. As she came running into the bathroom and creating enough friction from halting her movements to make a long skidmark on the floor, she perks up, bouncing. "All set! Now, what kind of cut would you like?" Inko beams at Nendo, handing over a hair-fashion magazine that, visually, reeks of obscure celebrities, obselete hairstyles and a musty smell, all of which are clear indications to how similar the magazine is to a deep-space probe in terms of catching up with the trends of society; that is, several decades behind planet Earth.

But Nendo couldn't care less about it. Flipping through the pages that have stuck together due to the mold, forcing him to very carefully separate them as to not accidentally rip them up, Nendo finally landed on a page that enraptured his lightning-fast attention span. "Well...a perm looks nice enough. Can you do this one?" He asked, showing her the picture.

Inko, who was setting her equipment onto the bathroom sink and the toilet tank, looks down. Her smile briefly falters. "T-This? Oh, um...sure thing! ." She quickly assures Nendo, though the more rational parts of her mind have already began backpedalling out of the idea when they all collectively realized that she might not be the person best suited for the job of giving Nendo a perm.

"I'm sure you will, Mrs. Midoriya. Besides, what better way to test your skills than to do your first perm?" Nendo wasn't about to be dissuaded, so it seems. Putting his foot down with the decision, Nendo sits still in his chair as Inko wraps the cape around him. "The fate of my looks is in your hands, Mrs. Midoriya. I believe in you!" Said Nendo, giving some supportive words before closing his eyes.

Inko didn't reply, instead biting her lower lip at the size of the hole she has dug for herself. Breathing rapidly but not loudly, the green-haired dame unwinds her tense shoulders and brandishes her scissors like a murder weapon, standing behind Nendo with a wary look. "Okay...you can do this, Inko! Just apply the tonic, wrap the rod around the hair, curl it then rinse and dry, right?" She muttered under her breath, grabbing the comb as she severs the first few strands from Nendo's volume of hair.

-0-

Walking up the stairs of the apartment block was Izuku, looking generally happy but also with an inexplicable hint of disgust in his eyes. Not so long ago, all of his efforts in training for ten sodding, agonizing months finally paid off as All Might declares him worthy of inheriting his Quirk. He expected some kind of physical contact that makes the ground shatter from sheer power alone or All Might literally exuding a ball of pure energy and Quirk-ism and pass it into him...

But Izuku's fantasies were all but put down, as all he actually have to do is to just have a piece of the hero's genetic material inside him. In essence, he has to physically eat something from his idol's body. As any other choice available would be far too stomach turning for his and All Might's standards, the most, generously speaking, palatable option was hair. He thought All Might was kidding at first, but after the man insisted on keeping the same serious grinning face, the greenette didn't have much of a choice.

Remembering the traumatic memory, Izuku gagged as the lingering taste returns to his tongue in bouts of phantom pain, or in this case, phantom taste. For unknown reasons, All Might's hair was acridly sour not unlike that of a bad lemon, though he is glad that it's not toxic since for all he knew, he could very well have consumed the Symbol of Justice's hair product too.

Reaching the door to his home, he opens it and lets his mother that he returned home as usual. Because she would always said something back, either to tell him to take a bath or ask him about his training, the sudden bout of silence immediately threw Izuku off. Hastily taking off his shoes, Izuku strode into the living room area before noticing the silhouette of his mom stepping backwards and out of the shared bathroom, brushing what looks like copious amounts of black hair off her hands. Izuku was about to greet her, only to stop the words just short at his teeth when he saw that look on her face.

Disappointment in one's self mixed with a healthy dosage of abject horror. And judging from where her eyes are pointing, Izuku could tell that the look was directed at something in the bathroom.

"Mrs. Midoriya? How's it going back there?" Come Nendo's voice, further compounding Izuku's puzzlement. On one hand, his mom looks like she just saw a ghost, but Nendo, who is in the bathroom, still sounds perfectly normal. "Hello?"

"O-Oh, uh...it's...I say it's done..." Stammered Inko, finally spoke up after staring open-mouthed at the abomination crafted by her hands for a solid minute and a half. Nendo's hopeful demeanor simply makes it feel even worse for her: he placed his trust in her, and she failed him. And now, she didn't even have the heart to tell him the ugly truth.

"Can I open my eyes? Just a little peek at my makeover!" Nendo said with a sing-song voice, shuffling in his seat and filled to the brim with excitement.

"NOT YET!" She shouted all of the sudden, before slapping a hand over her mouth. "W-What I'm saying is, there's still a few spots left that need finishing touches..." Inko whimpered, mentally chastising herself for spouting such a blatant lie. There's no saving what she has done to Nendo's hair – the damage was far too extensive for any quantity of hair tonic to be of any help.

Izuku, curious, went behind her and peeked inside the bathroom. Before Inko could even thought of advising her son to not look or to not make a single peep, the overwhelming urge to bust a gut was too much and he laughed. For a brief period , Izuku was still able to at least buffer his laughter by covering his mouth with his hands, his cheeks bulging up with air.

Nonetheless, Nendo's built-in Izuku detector picked up the chuckles. "Izu? Is that you?" He opens his eyes, and in that very brief moment where he edged his head out to look at Izuku, he caught a glimpse of his visage in the mirror. "What's so funny-" Whatever Nendo is about to say to the greenette was cut short as he jerks himself back and stood up staring at the mirror, his hopes and dreams dashed by the sheer, unrelenting force of disbelief. Once he has a full view of his look, dramatic thunder crackles and explodes in his head.

"WHAT?!" Nendo's scream could be heard for miles. The birds that were making their nests on top of the apartment immediately flew away in fright of the sudden loud noise.

After being rendered completely dumbstruck by his new hairstyle with his mouth gaping so wide that his uvula dangles like boxing ball for what feels like forever, the teen at long last was able to regain his ability to speak simply because he has to say something about this visual tragedy. Even then, his tongue curled all the way back into his throat, unable to form coherent words. "Sorry for screaming, Mrs. Midoriya. I don't mean any disrespect, but...are you sure that...what I'm seeing is meant to be a perm?" He asked with pauses punctuating the sentences for emphasis, pointing at his head.

Instead of the glorious curls that Nendo was expecting, he now possesses a truly outlandish mane of hair with dark, wavy strands jutting outward and slightly swept back in a way that superficially resembles an afro, in the barest of definitions. All in all, the result of a botched perm.

"I-I'm sorry, Nendo! It's just, I...I never actually done one before..." Inko fesses up, backing up into a corner and looking down out of shame. Nendo gawks at his image for a few more seconds just to take in all of its terrible qualities, before massaging his face in a tired manner.

"Eh...no need to beat yourself up, Mrs. Midoriya. I mean, I was the one who brought up the idea so I'm more at fault here." Nendo swallowed the blow dealt to his vanity and tried his best to console the poor woman who was one step away from an emotional breakdown. Running a hand through the pseudo-afro that unfortunately stucks with him for the meantime, Nendo took a moment to reassess his thoughts. As far as bad hair fashion goes, his isn't all that deep into the lower end of the spectrum...but by its own, it's not the most desirable of hairstyles. "But man...how am I gonna go outside with a rat's nest on my head?"

Izuku, already struggling with keeping a straight face, was finally beaten by his own sense of humor and the greenette bursted into a fit of howling laughter, guffawing uncontrollably at his friend's predicament. Nendo gave Izuku an incredulous look, before his stare rapidly turns into an extremely annoyed glare, channeling every letter of the sentence 'I hate you so much right now' into his eyes.

The laughter continues as Izuku's face turns more and more red from being unable to breathe, forcing him to pinch his arm just to let the pain overpower his endorphin rush, to no avail. Seeing Nendo sporting a hair that could only be described as the textbook 'mad scientist' look was just too funny to him.

-0-

"Is everything ready? Do you two need anything else?" Asked Inko, anxiously pacing around the front gate of the apartment. In front of her was Izuku and Nendo, both of which are wearing their middle school uniforms. There is a stark contrast between the two, however: Izuku's uniform looks as clean as the day it was bought, an example of the green-haired teen's preference for cleanliness, but Nendo's was riddled with wrinkles with streaks of dust that have permanently mark themselves onto the sleeves, reflecting his more unkempt lifestyle compared to his friend. When it comes to equipment, Izuku wore his school backpack while Nendo lugs a duffel bag around, carrying clothes that were reserved for the practical portion of the exam.

"Good to go, mom! I checked my bag twice already." Izuku reassured her, although he was mildly piqued that she has to ask him more than thrice. While he certainly deeply appreciates the attention she gives to his well-being, Izuku wouldn't mind her not smothering him with motherly love every now and then.

Nendo was hopping around, trying to get rid of the last of the tiny pebbles that got stuck in the grooves of his bargain-bin sneakers. He eventually succeeds, along with tripping on his own foot and fell headfirst to the ground. Nendo quickly gets back up, showing no more discomfort than before. "All set, Mrs. Midoriya! Wish us luck!"

"Alright then...good luck, Izuku baby! And good luck, Nendo!" Inko waved as the two boys walked away, waving back at her in kind. "Do your best!"

Nendo is easily the more enthusiastic of the two when it comes to waving, complete with a huge smile on his face. "Man, your mom is just the best! I could listen to her cheering me all day!" He said, lightly bumping his fist into Izuku's shoulder.

"Can't argue with that." Izuku mused in response, looking at Nendo. Upon witnessing his companion's illustrious mane of hair, the greenette inexorably cracks up again. Nendo was initially confused as to what elicit such a reaction, before the realization sets in and all of his good mood vanishes into thin air.

"Not. Cool." Grunted Nendo, his eyebrows furrowing out of pure indignation. "Izu, does your training includes being an ass about other people's misfortune? Because this stops being funny like, an hour ago."

"Okay, okay, I'll stop! Man, what a haircut!" Izuku coughs out the words in between gasps for air, wiping away the tears at the corner of his eyes. "I don't know what got to me. It's just...that kind of hair becomes funny whenever your face's in it. It's like a clown's wig."

"Well, if it isn't pot calling kettle black. Look at yourself in mirror, Izu!" Nendo called out on Izuku's hypocrisy. While it was technically true to a degree, Izuku's own hair was far more fluffy and natural-looking than Nendo's wavy, sweeped back pseudo-afro.

"I was born like that! Besides, my mom said it's adorable."

"If by 'adorable', you mean 'looking like the appetizing end of a broccoli', then sure."

"Pssh. Still better than looking like you."

"Yeah right, Broccoli Head."

"Back at you, Static Shock."

"Green, Green Grass of Home!"

"Albert Einstein!"

The supposed walk towards U.A High in awkward silence was broken when Izuku and Nendo began to trade childish insults directed at either party's hairstyle and calling each other names. That is, until a certain blond figure with a constant chewing-on-wasps face plows into the middle and breaking up their argument with his own. "Move to the side, you fucking nerds!"

Izuku lets out a high-pitched squeal upon hearing the familiar growl and swiftly stepped behind Nendo for Katsuki to pass through. "K-Kacchan?!"

Nendo, having no reason to fear Bakugo, simply gives the explosive blonde a cheery expression. "How'd you do, Katsuki? Long time no see." He knew that Katsuki's opinion towards him likely won't change, but saying hello can't possibly be an offense in the blonde's book, right?

Katsuki scowled at the noirette, but in the end gave no more thought about him than he would with anyone else he deemed inferior. Instead, the explosive teen focuses back on Izuku, his glare intensifying. "So, Deku...after all I've said, and you still decide to come? A Quirkless loser like you, competing with the likes of me? If I so much as see you during the exam, told your friend over there to put you out of your misery with his shitty bricks before I do it myself." He points a finger at Nendo, before walking away with animalistic grumbles escaping his mouth and scaring off other attending students, few of which murmured among themselves about how he's the one of the three civilians involved in what is now coined as the 'Sludge incident'.

"Heh. Classic Katsuki. Ten months and still the same old jerk we know and love. Well, 'love' is debatable." Nendo quipped as Bakugo disappears into the crowd gathering before the massive gates of Ultra Academy. "I wouldn't call it love. It's more like...'tolerate'. Or 'give up any semblance of trying and just accept who he is'." The noirette goes on with increasing verbosity, his hands dancing around to create some gravitas to his words.

Izuku could only exhale sadly at his former friend's stubborn desire to prove himself above everyone else. He doesn't blame Katsuki for saying things like that, given how he hasn't told anyone yet, not even Nendo, about his newly-obtained Quirk. Though, he doubted that revealing his Quirk would have changed the state of their relationship. If anything, Bakugo would just be even more pissed thinking that he purposefully hides his Quirk. Besides, Katsuki is many things, most of them negative, but an idiot isn't one of them. Izuku instinctively knows that the very nature of his Quirk is a huge arrow decked with Christmas lights pointing at All Might. "Yeah...classic Kacchan alright. Guess he'll never change."

"Did he give you any trouble while I'm away?" Nendo asked as the two of them continue their walk, mingling into the crowd.

Izuku went silent, before replying. "Huh? No, not at all surprisingly. It's like he just forgot about me. I suppose that's a good thing...why should he care about someone like me?" He muses, intertwining his fingers together in a nervous fashion. However, self-awareness kicks in and he realizes that he's being all moody again, around Nendo no less. "Damn it, Izuku! This is not the time to be like this! This is the time to prove to everyone that you're worthy of being All Might's successor!"

"Let's go, Nendo! Things have changed since ten months ago! I don't care what Kacchan thinks anymore!" Izuku suddenly perks up like a man possessed, in spite of his wobbling legs that threatens to collapse at any given moment.

"Uh...right behind you, man." Said Nendo with a pause, as even he was taken back by the sudden mood shift from the boy. And with that, Izuku speedily turns around and breaks into a sprint. However, just after the first few steps, Izuku's legs suddenly become weak and he flubbed his next step, resulting in the greenette losing his balance and fell over. Seeing the little cracks and edges of the asphalt fast approaching his face, he braced himself for impact and the sharp pain that will follow.

...But it never came. Before the heartwarming love story of Izuku reuniting with the pavement could be concluded with the latter making out with the former, the greenette finds his entire body suspended mid-air, barely a hair's breadth away from the ground. Fairly confident with the fact that his Quirk doesn't include the ability to give classical physics the middle finger, Izuku looked up.

Much to his gratitude and equal parts shyness, his knight in shining armor was a girl with brown hair that reaches down to her neck, though with similarly colored bangs that extends all the way to her shoulders and accentuating her round face. One of her fingers was touching his hair.

"Are you okay? Good thing I was able to get to you in time!" The girl spoke, her warm brown eyes locking with his green ones. "Tripping would be a bad omen on this day, don't you think?"

A vibrant blush made its way to Izuku as he felt his face burning up from how both how adorable she is and that he is actually getting talked to by a girl. While Izuku's brain was frying itself over being in close proximity to a female of his own species, Nendo was still running after his friend. As such, when the greenette fell and promptly remained mid-fall, his reaction time simply did not kick in quick enough, especially now that there's another person in his way.

Tripping over Izuku's suspended body, Nendo briefly becomes airborne, right before tumbling headfirst to the road, his momentum keeping him rolling on the ground before finally stopping with his face skywards. And unlike Izuku, there is no lady knight in shining armor with anti-gravitational powers to stop his fall.

"Agh..." As Nendo slowly gets up, rubbing his sore spots, Izuku rushes over to help him once the girl deactivates her Quirk and allowing his feet to touch ground again.

"Nendo!" Cried Izuku, giving the noirette a shoulder to lean on. "That was really hard fall. You alright?"

The imaginary stars circling above Nendo's head lingered for few more seconds before he snaps out of his trance. "Izu...I didn't know you can float! Damn useful for tripping people over, I can tell you that." Nendo snarked, speaking from fresh experience.

"O-Oh, that wasn't me! It was her! She saved me from falling down." Izuku motioned his thumb at the brown-haired girl, who then earned a look from Nendo, particularly one of respect.

"Really? Well then, thanks a bunch for saving this gentleman of mine here, uh...what's your name?" Nendo trailed off, extending a hand towards the girl for a hearty handshake. While she is the secondary reason leading to his painful tumble, but he finds it a bit dickish to put the blame on her. After all, she did deliver Izuku from sharing the same fate.

The girl smiled back like a beam of sunlight. "Ochako Uraraka! And you are...?" Ochako introduced herself, taking Nendo's hand and shaking it in a friendly manner. A moment prior, her eyes was focusing on his feet and slowly tracking upwards to ascertain his body language. Everything looks normal, until she gets a full view of his head once they are close enough to shook hands...

"Nice to meet ya, Uraraka! The name's-" Nendo felt his facial muscles twitching up and his voice dying down when Ochako brought her other hand up and tried her damndest not to laugh, though it was all for naught as several giggles have already escaped the confines of her mouth. What was meant to be his name devolves into unintelligible gurgles with Nendo walking a short distance away, silently fuming to himself.

"D-Did I do something wrong?" The brunette asked warily as some of the color drains from her blushing face.

Izuku cringed slightly, before raising a finger to get her attention. "He, erm...doesn't like people laughing at his hair very much. It's an accident. Very traumatic, you see." He explained, playing up some of his words to give her the idea that Nendo does not like getting teased about the un-fashionable nightmare on his head.

"I-I'm sorry!" Ochako bowed her head, apologizing profusely to Nendo whose back is still facing her. "I-I didn't think you would take offense! Your hair just looks funny to me...and cool too. It's like that of a crazy wizard. Please, don't take it to heart!"

While most would either admonishes Ochako or brush off her apology with a snort, Nendo only cares about one thing. "Crazy wizard, you say? You know what, Uraraka, it's alright. It's understandable now that you've explained it. Besides, it's better to smile than to get all nervous, no?" He turned around, now beaming as bright as a lighthouse at the brown-haired girl.

"O-Oh. Yeah, you're right!" Said Uraraka with a peppy voice, her previously apologetic expression now making way for a more cheerful one, even if she was unsure about how quickly he bounces back. "I didn't expect you to take it that well, though."

"Ah, staying mad for more than five seconds was never my forte. But anyway, my name's Nendo. Yosuke Nendo, but you can just call me Nendo." Yosuke finally gets the chance to introduce himself, before tugging Izuku to him by the collar of his blazer and physically turn the greenette towards Ochako. "And here is..." Hearing no response from Izuku, who was too busy getting red-faced, he lightly nudges him in the left flank. "Go on, Izu." Whispered Nendo.

"I-I'm, uh, Izuku! Izuku Midoriya! Pleased to meet you, Uraraka." Izuku was barely able to keep calm, his back upright and stiff while his face was puffed up, as if he was having severe gastric problems at a wedding reception. "S-Sorry, I'm just a b-bit nervous about the test." He said, partially lying about the reason leading to his stammering speech.

"I bet you are, Midoriya! Don't worry, I'm just as guilty of the same thing not too long ago." Ochako giggled, cheekily showing her tongue. "Still, it was fun talking to you two, but we should get going now before it's late. See you around, Midoriya-san! And you too, Nendo-san! Again, sorry about your hair!" Thus spoke Ochako as she hurried off, waving one last time at Izuku and Nendo, the former staring at her.

Once the immediate vicinity is cleared off of her, Izuku commences a mental panicking session. "Oh man oh man oh man I just talked to a girl! And a super cute one at that!" Such things ran through his head like a track meet, evoking his tendency to loudly mumble to spark up again. Izuku was so occupied with overthinking about the all-important happening of talking to someone of opposite gender that he didn't even notice Nendo placing his hands on his shoulders, a smug smile creeping on his face.

"And thus, the hero have been graced by the fair maiden. As he longingly look at her bewitching figure and captivated by her ethereal beauty, he wondered, what will become of her? More importantly, them?" Nendo narrated the event that has just unfolded with flowery prose, which had the unintended effect of dragging Izuku back to the real world.

"I-It's nothing like that, I swear!" He protested, shaking his head to ward off any inappropriate thoughts as well as to disprove any dirt Nendo may have on him.

"Sure..." Nendo dragged out the word, obviously not buying Izuku's excuse. Rubbing the greenette's shoulders, his smug smile gets all the more wide. "I saw the way you're looking at her. Admit it, Izu. You're so very much-" Luckily for Izuku, this topic quickly gets dropped once Nendo gives his shoulders a good squeeze.

"Woah! I never thought you pack this much beef underneath! Izu, you're ripped!" The noirette compliments his friend's physique wholeheartedly, giving the greenette another squeeze around the shoulders, essentially giving him a massage. This inevitably caused Izuku to blush, but also thankful that Nendo has the attention span of a senile goldfish.

"T-Thanks?" Izuku replied with a smile that only further indicates that he has absolutely no idea how to respond. "But anyway, I think we should go now! The written exam is about to start!" Raising his voice, Izuku pulled out his phone to show the timer that he has set up ticking down to its last ten minutes.

"Oh, sure thing!" Nendo happily hops along with the greenette, hands behind his back. "So, do you think Ochako's gonna sit in the same room as us?" He asked with a tone that would sound innocent otherwise, but Izuku have known him far too long to buy it. Balling his fists and exhaling sharply, Izuku threw his hands in the air.

"Oh come on!" The green-haired teen screams unto the sky, before quieting down once he realizes how many people are giving him the hairy eyeball. Simmering his indignation to a more acceptable degree, Izuku felt prompted to grab Nendo by the wrist and drag him into the gigantic expanses of U.A while reading from his notebook, hoping that it would distract him from Nendo's antics.

"Whatcha reading?" Asked the black-haired teen out of curiosity, walking along with a lopsided gait courtesy of being pulled by one hand by Izuku.

"Just last-minute revisions. I heard they're testing us on maths the first round." Izuku replied without much thought as most of his brainpower are redirecting towards his notes.

"Hang on." Nendo's legs suddenly become stiff as he heard what Izuku said, loud and clear. "Not geography first?"

-0-

The academic portion of the Entrance Exam starts the moment Nendo and Izuku entered their room and sat down on their assigned seats, already fully provided with writing utensils and other implements, thus rendering the students' pens and pencils brought from home a mute point. Contrary to Nendo's expectations however, Ochaco was not in the same room as they are, allowing Izuku to finally breathe again and gave Nendo a self-righteous grin.

As the two-hour timer starts counting down, there was an visible difference observed between Nendo and Izuku. Izuku's body language was calm, focused and rational as his pen blazed through the papers without once stopping for a pause, a clear indication that he has prepared himself well for the exam.

On the other hand, Nendo was exhibiting just about all the symptoms of a nervous student scrambling to finish the exam before the bell chimes. Sweating incessantly, pausing for extended periods at earlier questions to see if he actually got it right, erasing answers he didn't found satisfactory, chewing on one end of his pen, biting his nails and occasionally smacking his head flat against the table. He would have started burrowing into the table if it wasn't for the examiner telling him to stop.

Once the exam was over and everyone has fully handed their papers in, Izuku and Nendo exited their shared exam room, each with a different reception to their own performance, albeit not in the way anyone would have expected. The former is now constantly mumbling and talking to himself about which questions he perceived to have gotten wrong, while the latter lets off a huge breath of relief, his face bright and cheerful that he was no longer under duress from the oppressive atmosphere of examiners peeking over his shoulders.

"Glad that's over with! Man, my back was so sweaty in there." The brick-controlling teen exclaimed, wrapping an arm around his shorter friend's shoulders and pulling him in close for a brief but friendly hug, right before instantly letting him go. "How did you do?"

Izuku was still far too deep in retrospection to his written exam to have picked up what Nendo said. It was only until the noirette gave him a tap on the back does he snaps out of the trance he put himself into. Even then, Izuku stutters in his speech a bit. "Oh, uh...I did okay, I guess. Pretty sure I make a few mistakes back there. Big ones that may affect my overall score significantly." He rambles on, looking down and rubbing his knees together.

"Oh, chin up Izu. I'm sure your mistakes aren't that big of a deal. I mean, you're a smart guy, clearly smarter than me, and if I'm not worried, why should you?" Said Nendo, trying his best to encourage the green-haired teen who have had one too many doubts about his own ability.

Izuku looked up, eyes full of thought before turning over to Nendo. "Because I actually care about my end results?" He replied with a monotonous voice, crossing his arms as the two of them head towards the auditorium for the practical exam.

Nendo appeared to be tongue-tied, his mouth wide open with no words coming out as he was taken back by the snarkiness unprecedented from the usually-demure Izuku. Still, he takes it in stride. "Well, you're not wrong, but what I'm saying is...have a little more faith in yourself, Izu. You're better than you think you are." Nendo said with a layer of gentleness in his tone, giving the greenette a supportive pat on the back.

Izuku contemplates this matter for a moment, keeping his head low and his lips pursing. Eventually, the teen flashes Nendo a mutual smile in recognition of his advice. "Always a silver lining with you, isn't it Nen-chan? If everybody was like you, maybe we wouldn't even have villains to begin with." The smile morphed into a grin, followed by Izuku giving Nendo a brief, friendly hug of his own. "But honestly, thanks. I needed that, Nendo."

"You're welcome, you're welcome." Nendo humbled himself, waving at the air as if to shoo away all of the high praises directed towards him, which is precisely one. He wraps his arms around Izuku's frame as well, before breaking away from each other's embrace soon after. The duo then talked about irrelevant topics while walking down the hallway leading to the auditorium's giant doors.

Entering the premise, the duo had to separate due to there being seats assigned to each student once again. In a rather luck-based process, Izuku and Nendo somehow gravitates towards one another and ended up in close proximity to each other, with Nendo sitting at the row above Izuku. For Nendo, this was a stroke of good luck! He doesn't have to be very far away from his dear Izu-chan.

For Izuku however, it was a stroke of extraordinarily bad luck. Not because of Nendo himself, but because of a particular foul-tempered blonde sitting right next to him, sporting his signature scowl that intimidated most, if not all of his fellow students.

"The fuck you lookin' at?" Katsuki snarled with a surprising amount of self-restraint in terms of volume, but his scathing voice was nonetheless full of ill intent directed towards the greenette. Izuku fully expected him to blow him up right here and there...but he didn't. The blonde simply glares at him with a look that could drop an elephant before turning his eyes away. Izuku, not willing to push his luck, looked elsewhere as well and keeping his mouth shut.

However, it wouldn't be too long before Izuku started talking again, and that moment came when the lights surrounding the auditorium suddenly went dead, engulfing the entire place in pitch darkness before the spotlights mounted around the podium lit up and focusing on a single figure. "Oh. My. God! It's Present Mic! I listened to his radio every day this is awesome!" Izuku loudly whispered, his fanboyish tendencies inevitably peeking their heads out upon seeing a well-known Pro Hero. "His Quirk allows him to control the loudness of his voice for offensive purposes-"

"Shut it." Was the only response Bakugo has for Izuku's nerdy ramblings.

"Who is this guy again?" Nendo wondered on the row above them, narrowing his eyes and blinking stupidly at the flashy middle-aged man on the center stage with some kind of reverse pompadour that is bigger than his own head. The only electronics in his possession were his phone, console and his TV, thus Nendo rarely tunes in to radio shows.

"WELCOME, ONE AND ALL TO MY LIVE SHOW!" Exclaimed Present Mic as he swivels around in his spot, his loud voice being such a force of nature that it blows back the hair of the students positioned the closest to him. "EVERYBODY SAY HEY!" He shouted, before cupping his ear towards the crowd, hoping to hear an equally ecstatic response.

But the only one he gets is complete, and utter silence born from nervousness. None of the students actually reply with anything louder than a dry cough.

"HEY!" Comes the voice of Nendo as he waves his arms in the air, cheering while being subjected to the scrutinizing stares of everyone in the immediate vicinity. "Woo! Yeah!"

Most of them, to be specific. Present Mic followed the voice, and as it turns out, one kid did take his request to heart. Enthusiastic that his bombastic entrance did gained at least one positive feedback, the Pro Hero swept his hair back and pointed a finger towards Nendo, almost sparkling with hype. "YES, YES! THANK YOU, EXAMINEE 9388! YES YOU, THE KID WITH THE FUNNY HAIR! AT LEAST SOMEBODY HERE WOKE UP ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF BED!"

Despite hundreds upon hundreds of eyes focusing on him, some of them chuckling and snickering at his new hairstyle, Nendo couldn't care less. After all, this Present Mic guy seems like an excitable fellow, and he wasn't about to disappoint such an awesome introduction. Meanwhile, Izuku was suffering from so much second-hand embarrassment that it's a herculean task for him to keep his hands from slipping off his seat and fastening around his throat to end this miserable existence of his. "Why, Nendo, why..." Muttered Izuku under his breath, keeping his head low and his collar raised up in an attempt to hide his face.

The explosive blonde merely waves him on, sneering a bit at Nendo. "Moron." He couldn't give less of a damn about the black-haired teen, but seeing him all chipper like that irks Katsuki. Why couldn't he just be quiet like everyone else?

"AND AS FOR THE REST OF YOU, WHAT A RESPONSE! NO WORRIES, I GOT CHILLS DOWN MY SPINE AS WELL, LISTENERS!" The loudmouthed Pro Hero easily shrugs off the deathly silence from everyone else, but upon closer inspection, one could tell that his smile falters somewhat at the chilly reception. "ALRIGHT ALRIGHT, EXAMINEES! I'M GONNA GIVE Y'ALL A LOW-DOWN ON HOW THIS WILL GO DOWN! ARE YOU READY?"

Once again, the response from the audience was as exciting as the vacuum of space, save for Present Mic and Nendo shouting "YEAH!" in unison. The next couple of minutes or so was spent by the Pro Hero explaining the general rules of the practical exam, while the screens behind him displayed various illustrations to help the students visualize his point.

"They don't let friends or classmates to cooperate, huh? Makes sense." Katsuki mused, tapping his fingers on the row-wide table. "They probably wouldn't like it if I kill you." The blonde growled to the cowering Izuku, before peeking at his number and then back at Izuku's on the screen. There were seven examination sites in total, and upon seeing that he and Izuku indeed were placed in different sites Katsuki slumps back to his seat, huffing indignantly that he is denied the chance to utterly crush Izuku.

"Perfect time to pop a hate boner, eh Katsuki? Shouldn't you save all of that for like, you know, other targets more worthy of such fiery hate?" Nendo peered down from his row, resting his head on his hand while smiling at the explosive blonde, who clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"Mind your own fucking business, Nendo."

"Make me, Kacchan." Nendo replied curtly, showing his tongue at Bakugo. Of course, the blonde reacted predictably – with frothing screaming rage and his hands primed to wring the life of out Nendo's neck.

"ALSO, DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT DIRECTLY ATTACKING OTHER COMPETITORS OR ANY OF THAT NASTY ANTI-HERO STUFFS, CAUSE THAT'S AGAINST THE RULES! CAPISCE?" The booming voice of Present Mic comes through again, stopping Katsuki dead in his tracks.

With an insufferably smug grin, Nendo maintained his relaxed posture at Katsuki as he very subtly reminds the blonde of what the Pro Hero just said about harming other competitors by motioning his eyes towards Present Mic. Bakugo looked very much ready to go nuclear at any given point, but even he knew when to wisely sat back down before his actions caught any unwanted attention, swallowing his pride and grumbling to himself while giving Nendo scathing glares every now and then, which the noirette swiftly ignores.

"Excuse me, sir, may I ask a question?" Asked a student from several rows underneath Nendo, raising his hand. The student in question was a tall and well-dressed young man with short, neatly-combed dark blue hair and some oddly rectangular features, in that his jawline, glasses and the general shape of his face are all variations of a rectangle.

Upon receiving a nod of approval from Present Mic, the uptight student performed a theatrical cough before brandishing a piece of paper with the images of four robotic-looking silhouettes placed in the center with labels surrounding them. "You have only mentioned three, but on the handout, there are clearly four types of villains listed! An error as egregious as misprinting would be the epitome of shame for a first-rate national academy of U.A's caliber! The sole reason we, the examinees, are here today is because we wish to seek guidance to become model and exemplary heroes for a better tomorrow!"

The atmosphere briefly becomes disquietingly silent after the student finishes his complaint, to the point that even Izuku has stopped his mumblings out of being blindsided by a full-on speech out of the blue. No one, with the exception of Nendo clapping slowly at the bespectacled teen, said anything until Present Mic spoke up again.

"OKAY, OKAY, THANK YOU! THE SEGUE IS MUCH APPRECIATED, EXAMINEE 7111! FOR YOUR INFORMATION, THAT FOURTH TYPE OF VILLAIN IS WORTH ZERO POINTS! IT WOULD BE MORE ACCURATE TO CALL HIM AN OBSTACLE THAN AN ACTUAL OPPONENT!" Present Mic handwaved at the tall student, who simply bows down in gratitude that he answered his question before sitting back down. And then, the Pro Hero pressed a remote makes the screen flash an image that almost cause Nendo's own nerdy tendencies to gush all over. "HAS ANYONE EVER PLAYED SUPER MARIO BROTHERS BEFORE? I DOUBT IT, SINCE IT'S KIND OF RETRO!"

The crowd murmured amongst themselves, skeptical that there could be someone who hasn't at least heard of the famous franchise before. There were a few who sounded excited that a video game was mentioned, no doubt having played it before. But none were as loud about it as Nendo. "Me, sir! I did! Almost all of it! Almost all of the Mario Party games too, but I lost track of the latest entry!"

"A-HA! WE GOT A GAMER HERE, BOYS AND GIRLS! WELL THEN, YOU MUST HAVE KNOWN ABOUT THE THWOMPS, RIGHT? THE SPIKY SQUARE ANGRY FACES THAT SLAM DOWN WHEN YOU GO UNDER THEM?" Present Mic twirled his moustache as he speaks, which earned him a nod so vigorous from Nendo that the noirette could easily pass for one of those bobblehead figures mounted on the dashboards of cars. "WELL, THERE'S A THING LIKE THAT IN EACH AREA! THEIR WHOLE GIMMICK IS THAT THEY START RAMPAGING WHEN IT GETS CROWDED! THEY'RE NOT IMPOSSIBLE TO TAKE DOWN, BUT THEY GIVE YOU NO POINTS, SO THERE'S LITTLE REASON TO FACE THEM! A STAGE HAZARD, IF YOU WILL!"

This led to the crowd sparking up conversations again, comparing how the practical exam is sounding more and more like a video game. Of course, Nendo wasn't bothered by it in the slightest, as shown by the noirette giddily hopping in his seat. "Scores and stage hazards? Man, it's like the arcade all over again!" He thought, smiling from ear to ear.

"BUT ENOUGH TALKING FROM MY PART! AS A PARTING GIFT TO ALL YOU LISTENERS HERE, I SHALL TELL YOU THE MOTTO OF THIS ACADEMY OF MINE! AS THE FAMOUS HISTORICAL HERO, NAPOLEON BONAPARTE ONCE SAID: 'A TRUE HERO NEVER STOPS OVERCOMING THE MISFORTUNES OF LIFE'!" With a flourish, Present Mic drops an invisible microphone on the floor and slightly dips his sunglasses down, revealing his leering eyes that seems to have a devious quality to them. "AND NOW, ONTO THE MAIN EVENT! PLUS ULTRA!"

Moonwalking off the stage, the Pro Hero fixed a few strands of hair jutting out of place with his massive pompadour before spinning in his heels and pointed a finger towards the screen, which is now projecting an animation of the words 'Plus Ultra' dancing around.

"AND MAY YOU ALL SUFFER GLADLY THE TRIALS TO COME!"

-0-

"I-It's so big!" Thought Izuku, his nerves already frayed as he observed the district-sized replica of the city that his designated area currently houses. The green-haired teen has changed out to his tracksuit which bears the same color as his hair, looking around with a great deal of stress plaguing his mind. Everybody else appear to occupy themselves with warmup stretches, talking to one another or deep breathing to calm their senses. "They all looked so confident...I guess they have all trained with their Quirks beforehand. I wonder how Nendo is doing though?"

His answer would come in the form of a shell-like canopy made entirely out of bricks, which he nearly tripped over. The top of the canopy would inexplicably float upwards, allowing the person inside to pop his head out. "Hey, Izu-chan!" Greeted Nendo, standing back up to his full height as the rest of the brick canopy, along with the top disintegrate into red dust and converged around his body.

"GAH!" Midoriya jumped backwards, unable to mask his surprise as the realization that he and Nendo shares the same examination site slowly dawns in. Nendo changed out of his bedraggled uniform as well, now wearing his trademark red hoodie and a simple pair of grey cargo pants. "W-What are you doing here, Nendo? Shouldn't they separate people that knew each other?" Asked the greenette, more confused than actually dismayed about Nendo's presence.

"I guess the teachers just don't know. Aside from us being from the same school, there's nothing on our profiles that would hint we knew each other. We're pretty much strangers as far as they're concerned." Answered Nendo, ignoring the glances he received from the surrounding populace and scratching his chin in deep thought.

"I...well, I suppose that does make sense. Then, we just have to act like we're strangers..." Izuku trails off as his eyes wandered and landed a particular brown-haired lass he and Nendo met at the entrance. "It's her! We're in the same area...!"

"Oh hey, it's Ochako!" Said a smiling Nendo, interrupting Izuku's line of thought as he peeked over his shoulders. In contrast to his innocent expression, intentions far more devious are cooking up inside. "We should say hi, no?"

"No!" Blurted Izuku, before giving himself a slap on the mouth when faced with a raised eyebrow from Nendo. "I-I mean, yes! B-But shouldn't we give her some space? Cause the exam is about to start and all..." The greenette tried his absolute best to explain himself, but Nendo made it blatantly clear that he wasn't entirely buying it, via curling his lips upward and changing his posture.

"Really?" Asked Nendo rhetorically, making sure to drag out the word to further emphasize his skepticism. "Come on, admit it. You want to see her again, don't you Izu?"

Ten seconds of radio silence went by before Izuku finally unravels the knot the size of a fist in his throat to talk again. "Alright, fine, fine! So what if I wanted to talk to her? I just wanted to...thank her for earlier, that's all." Izuku replied, feeling slightly more irritated than usual by Nendo's continuous bothering. However, he quickly puts back up a smile just when he thought Uraraka is looking at him.

"Go for it, then!" Cheered Nendo, giving Izuku a pat on the back before slightly pushing him forward to Ochako's direction. "So our hero once again met the fair maiden whom he fancies. What else does fate have in store for the star-crossed lovers?" He narrates from the background as his friend mildly threatened him with his shaking fists, before taking deep breaths to calm himself and walked towards Ochako, confidence shining from his walking stance.

But that confidence was soon snuffed out when somebody's hand made contact with his shoulder. Returning to his previous state of being a constant nervous wreck, Izuku looked back and recognizes the person as 'examinee 7111' from the auditorium, whose is now dressed in a skintight jumpsuit that revealed his well-built calves with some tube-like protrusions that reminded Izuku of an engine's exhaust pipes.

"I saw the way you are looking at that girl. What is it that you are planning, my friend?" Asked the taller teen, his hand clutching onto Izuku's shoulder and causing the greenette to wince from the pressure. "You and that student with black hair over there have been causing quite a ruckus at the entrance, and now this? Obstructing her and others during the exam isn't a part of your agenda...is it?"

Izuku was somewhat intimidated by the boy's demanding attitude and towering height, but he still finds the will within himself to answer him. "W-What, no! Of course not, what makes you think that? I-I mean, I'm friends with that guy and I'm just t-trying to wish her luck-" Before Izuku could finish his explanation however, Nendo already made his way over to the two of them, his face adopting an ice-cold expression.

"Hey. Hands off." Nendo ordered without pause, curtly batting the bespectacled student's hand away from his friend's shoulder. The student briskly retrieved his hand, appalled by the noirette's intrusion.

"How rude! I was talking to him, until you suddenly interrupt it! Didn't your mother taught you not to do such things?" Protested the student, squinting his eyes and staring down Nendo, who promptly returned the favor. Nendo wasn't quite as tall as he is, but he was still taller than Izuku, and that made all the difference in the world.

"N-Nendo! You don't have to-"

"Oh, I'm the rude one? Correct me if I'm wrong, but my friend never gave you the permission to touch him like that, did he?" Nendo pointed out, crossing his arms while maintaining an unblinking gaze towards the taller teen. The uptight student, realizing that he himself has made a blunder, hastily bowed his head before turning away and left without any comebacks.

Meanwhile, Izuku glanced around. He saw how everyone gave him and Nendo various kinds of condescending looks as quiet conversations broke out, with sentences like 'the kid can't stop shaking in his boots' and 'the other guy's power looks lame' being thrown out like a bone to a pack of dogs. Clearly, they were judging him and Nendo as the opponents they don't have to worry about.

"Geez, what a holier-than-thou prick." Huffed Nendo, some passing disdain for the strict student before looking back to Izuku, his face mellowing once more. "You okay, Izu? Did he rough you up too much?" He asked, dusting off the greenette's arms.

"I'm fine..." Replied Izuku, demoralized.

"Hey, what's with the 'deflated balloon' look?"

"Well...everyone thinks they're lucky to have us as opponents. What's not to be deflated about?"

Nendo takes one look at his fellow competitors, before blowing a raspberry and shrugged. "Eh, they can go shove it. The only thing you need to know about is-"

"AND START!" Comes a shout that echoed throughout all seven sites. Following the voice, all of the gates flung open with enough force to kick up a considerable dust cloud.

Once the dust cleared, the examinees were left terribly confused as to whether or not the practical exam has started. Nendo, ever the more impulsive one between him and Izuku, already made up his mind the moment he heard those words. He gave his green-haired friend a light nudge before setting his legs to autopilot and dashed into the exam site, yelling "RUN!" as he did so.

Izuku, not entirely sure what was going on, stumbled forward a couple of steps before he too realizes what Nendo was hinting at and followed him with equal haste, leaving the crowd of confused competitors behind to ponder and question their actions.

"What are those two doing? The exam hasn't even started."

"Wait, didn't the doors literally opened a second ago?"

"Well yeah, but there should be some kind of cue, like a starting pistol or stuff like that. Who knows? Maybe the teachers are tricking the cheaters among us to weed them out once they made a slip-"

"HEY HEY, WHAT'S THE MATTER?! THERE ARE NO COUNTDOWNS IN A REAL BATTLE!" Announced Present Mic from the top of a building, standing over the edge and looking down on the competitors on all seven sites. "GO! RUN! DO SOMETHING! SOME ALREADY GOTTEN THE RIGHT IDEA!"

The students all cried in shock as they collectively freak out and rush into their respective exam sites with such reckless abandon that untied shoelaces were the least of their concerns. As a result of panic, some even pushed and stepped on each other along the way just to get a headstart.

Izuku and Nendo were only ahead of them by a marginal distance, but it was enough for the duo to encounter one of the four antagonistic robots that roam the streets of the city-replica. "I-It's a one-pointer!" Said Izuku, accurately recognizing the robot's type due to its light frame and the huge number '1' emblazoned on its armor plates.

The one-pointer trained its single red eye onto Izuku and Nendo, its elongated neck stretching and twisting. "Target detected. Termination is imminent." The robot threatened the two with an electronically reverberated voice, likely for intimidation factor.

Izuku's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets the moment the bot started charging towards him. Since he has just inherited One For All mere hours before, the greenette has yet to learn how to use it, let alone doing so in a hostile environment. As such, Izuku was all but defenseless against the one-pointer. "Damn it, Izuku! Why are you cowering right now? You're just too used to it...!" Comes forth his turbulent thoughts, tears building up at the rims of his eyes.

The robot closes in, raising its metallic arms in process...

Before its charge is halted to a dead stop as a wall of bricks roughly its height and width suddenly manifests before the robot, causing the one-pointer to crash against the wall. The one responsible for the interference was none other than Nendo, who stood before the paralyzed Izuku, raising his hand to summon the brick wall. The one-pointer quickly recovers from the crash and attempted to lash out again, only for Nendo to now launch the wall itself against it, pushing the robot away before both the wall and the bot slammed against a part of the scenery with great force, resulting in the wall getting pulverized and the robot flattened.

Izuku had his eyes shut the entire time, guarding his face with his arms. He would have probably keep on doing so, if not for Nendo patting him on the back. "Hey, Izu!" Hearing the familiar voice, the greenette opens his eyes...and let out a huge breath of relief once he saw Nendo's reassuring face and the offending one-pointer reduced to scrap metal several meters back. "You alright?"

"Y-Yeah. Thanks Nendo." Izuku expressed his gratitude as he gets into a more dignified posture. However, from the corner of his observant eye, he spotted the shape of another one-pointer leaping down, intended to get the drop on Nendo. His rubbery legs finding the steel of resolve, the greenette tackles Nendo to the ground. "LOOK OUT!"

As soon as the two tumbled out of the robot's shadow, a large beam of energy emerged from behind them and effortlessly vaporizes entire sections of the one-pointer, showering pieces of red-hot metal around Nendo and Izuku. Once the duo manages to get back on their feet, the source of the laser is revealed to be a flamboyant-looking student with light blonde hair and some rather androgynous facial features. Also, he appears to be oddly...twinkling?

"Merci! Nice team play there, mes amis!" Said the student, gratuitously mixing various French terms into his sentence. He then smiles, reveal his dazzling row of impossibly white teeth that nearly blinds the greenette and the noirette. "You two provided an amazing distraction, but alas, it is unlikely we will cross paths again! Adieu!" And with that, the handsome stranger speeds off into the distance, leaving behind naught but a trail of dust.

"The hell is that supposed to mean?" Asked a gobsmacked Nendo, not being very fluent in foreign languages. Helping Izuku up, the frizzy-haired teen scanned his surroundings for any other threat nearby. "Anyway, thanks for the save back there, Izu."

"You don't have to. I'm just returning the favor, that's all." Izuku replied with a meek smile, scratching the back of his head. He looked down on his feet for several seconds, contemplating his thoughts. So far, he has done nothing but let Nendo defend him from opposition, ranging from that guy with engines on his calves to the one-pointer. He is here to become a hero, and yet, he couldn't even defend himself. Angry at his own weakness and cowardice, Izuku let that burning feeling to dissipate into his gut...before looking back up at Nendo again, this time with a much more determined expression. Yet, there was still some lingering anxiety in his iridescent green eyes. "I think we should split up here."

To say that Nendo was surprised would be an understatement. His eyes widen and his palms boosting their sweat production, he gives Izuku a very conflicted look, not because he thinks Izuku couldn't handle himself in a fight, but because he is afraid that something terrible might happen to his only friend, and he wouldn't arrive in time to stop it.

Just like how it was with his father. "Split up? But...not saying you can't fend for yourself, but I just think it'd be safer if we stay near each other." Nendo expresses his concerns, twirling his thumbs together. Izuku's game face melted into something more empathetic as he place a hand on noirette's arm.

"Nen-chan, I'll be fine. I got a hidden Quirk, remember? Isn't that what you always believed in?" Izuku said so with complete confidence, patting his biceps to reassure his friend's worries. "Besides, the whole point is to earn as much points as possible, and so far I'm zero and you're one. Splitting up should allow each of us to garner more points without having to steal from each other, and without the help of another, you and I will have to...er, fight harder. It's like grinding for experience points, you know?" He explained calmly to Nendo, once again using video game terms to better help the noirette in understanding the matter.

"Yeah...oh yeah! This is the perfect opportunity for your Quirk to show up!" Exclaimed Nendo, his disquieting thoughts fading away to be replaced with the same cheerfulness as before. "These robots are like the Lesser Treants of Arcane Quest! Tough, but not too tough, and they net low-level players a whole bunch of XP to level up! Defeat enough and you'll awaken in no time!"

"I guess it's something like that. Well, time to get 'grinding' then." Izuku air-quoted the word, giggling at Nendo nerding out over his favorite game again, before raising his balled fist towards him, waiting for a hearty bump between friends. "See you on the other side?"

"See you on the other side." Nendo responded in kind, bumping his own fist with Izuku's as the two mimicked an explosion with their mouths once their knuckles made contact. "May the bricks be with you, Izu!" Said Nendo with a waving hand at Izuku before creating a platform of bricks under his shoes and telekinetically orders it to carry him away into another district.

"See ya..." Izuku replied with his own version of a handwave, which is to slightly move his hand left and right while his forearm remains stiff. Bending over to catch his breath, the green-haired teen tries to come up with a game plan for himself, now that Nendo is gone. How could this be so hard? He just needs to do what All Might taught him to: clench his ass super tight and scream the word from the bottom of his heart-

"SIX MINUTES AND TWO SECONDS LEFT!"

The eardrum-destroying voice of Present Mic comes forth again, simultaneously informing Izuku that the clock is ticking down fast and scaring the wits out of him. Digging in his heels, the greenette dashed towards the road opposite to where Nendo went, mentally panicking as he ran. "Oh shit! This is bad! This is really bad!"

Wherever his legs might take him, Izuku still promised himself to do his best. After all that training, he couldn't just let All Might down. Not now.

-0-

Nendo started walking on feet once he arrived at a lengthy street fenced in by two rows of buildings, all wrecked and damaged courtesy of the villain bots roaming the area. As the brick platform dissolves behind him, the lone wizard cautiously checks every corner and pieces of debris that he passes, as one-pointers and two-pointers can very well hide behind these. Since the only sounds entering his range of hearing was the faraway, muffled noises of other students clashing and destroying robots, Nendo was immediately suspicious of the silence and emptiness of the street he is currently passing through. There must be some robots hiding around here.

He was soon proven correct, as a sound similar to that of a minigun spinning up its six barrels of pure death rang through the air. Turning around with no time to spare, Nendo instinctively raised a hand to summon a particularly thickened brick wall that shields him from the shower of rubber bullets in time, occasionally spraying bits of masonry as the less-than-lethal rounds bounce off the wall with great force. Diving behind a large piece of scenery with the brick wall following him, Nendo slightly peeked his head up to observe the situation. Indeed, there was a one-pointer advancing towards his position with the barrels of its weapon still revving up, ready to open fire the moment Nendo showed his face again.

"Whose idea was it to give these things automatic weapons?!" Pondered an incredulous Nendo, wondering how U.A was able to get away with equipping their training robots – which in turn are used to train heroes-in-training, who are mostly young teens – with the firepower of fighter jets.

As the robot has no intention of leaving him alone, Nendo takes another look at the one-pointer before immediately retreating to his cover to avoid getting a faceful of rubber-tipped pain. Spawning a brick in his hand, he allows it to hover slightly while preparing his body to endure pain should his plan fails. "Projectile attacks, huh? Two can play that game." Leaping out of cover, time seems to slow down as Nendo, with the brick hovering in his hand, telepathically throw it at the one-pointer with enough speed to generate a sonic boom.

In that same time, the one-pointer raises its minigun again, already letting off a few shots, all of which barely misses Nendo due to their wide trajectory...

But ultimately, there could only be one victor between this gun-against-brick duel. As force equals mass by acceleration, a small mass such as a brick combined with the speed of a bullet effectively turns it into a railgun projectile that easily rips through the one-pointer's metallic body, and the aftershock of the impact was powerful enough to separate the robot's head clean from what's left of its torso. The destroyed one-pointer could only let out a distorted electronic garble before shutting down completely.

Nendo, already flat against the ground with his face down, instantly gets back up to gloat at the one-pointer, despite knowing that the robot has ceased to function. "HAH! Suck on that, you hunk of junk! You dare have the audacity to challenge the great and powerful Nendo and think you could make it out alive? What a foolish thought!" Nendo boasts as he poses in a dramatic manner, uttering every word with enough gravitas to feed to hold an entire planet together.

Little did he know, these wild proclaimations would attract unwanted attention, which comes in the form of a squad consisting of two additional one-pointers, a two-pointer and a three-pointer showing up and stomped their way towards him. Hearing the various mechanical whirring behind him, Nendo stopped talking and turned around. Looks like they were hiding after all, perhaps to set up an ambush for anyone who treads through this passage.

Still keeping his self-assured grin, Nendo outstretches his arms, greeting the villain bots with a jovial attitude. "Well...hello there. How's it going? You guys look like you could use some polishing there." For someone who is potentially getting tag-teamed by four killer robots, he is positively casual about it. After all, wouldn't hurt to face death with a smile. "Oh, and if you're coming for him, sorry...I kinda busted him up. No hard feelings?"

"Enemy detected. It's clobbering time!" Bombastically declared a one-pointer, already raising its weapon.

"Target detected. Your death will not be a swift one." Said another one-pointer.

"Enemy detected. Murder's on the menu, boys!" Said the two-pointer.

"Target locked. Would you like some military-grade explosives for breakfast?" The three-pointer said as its missile batteries rotated towards Nendo's general direction, the rockets all primed and ready.

"Man, really should have invested in my charisma. Oh well. I was hoping we could do this the hard way..." Nendo replied with a low, ominous voice, giving his neck a good crack in the process. Pulling his hood back up to cover his face, the teen poised his hands at the four robots. "Cause I've been itching for a good, clean fight since I left juvie!"

VILLAINOUS ROBOTS

THE BATTLE STARTS!

Beacons of light engulfed Nendo and the robots as they all enter their battle states, each adopting their respective stances with Nendo doing the jazz hands to taunt his opponents. The robots were all at LV.8, which was of no great concern to him as he was only a level lower,and coated in a golden aura that shines with a metallic luster, which Nendo recognizes as the visual effects for the 'Unflinching' buff, which renders one immune to critical hits and cannot to be knocked down for opportunistic attacks.

This was going to be difficult, given how Unflinching can be a soft counter to physical damage, which his magic excels at. Not to be dissuaded now, Nendo goes through his attack options. During those months in juvenile detention, he had come up with a new move that he is waiting to test on something other than deliquents picking a fight with him.

BRICK-CHETTE STORM

Nendo Gathers A Billowing Cloud of Bricks!

Creating dozens upon dozens of smaller bricks that are barely the size of his palm, Nendo coagulates the mass of downsized bricks into a vaguely ball-like amalgamation, with each brick tightly packed against each other. He then throw his hands forward, thus causing the mass of bricks to move within a meter away from the bots before bursting into a cloud of shrapnel in a cone-like pattern, accompanied with an equally loud bang as the tiny bricks rip through the sound barrier.

The one-pointer closest to the spray of bricks finds its health bar cut down to a mere sliver as the shotgun spray of miniature bricks pulverized much of its armor plates, exposing some internal parts and wires, while the other one-pointer and the two-pointer by its side only have a small chunk of their health taken away. The three-pointer, being the furthest away from the group, takes virtually no damage at all.

Only when his turn was over, does the revelation that he will have to survive the combined attacks from all four robots sets in for Nendo. Assuming a more defensive posture, the noirette brace himself for what the robots got in store.

One-Pointer Villain 1 Attacks!

The heavily damaged one-pointer, its gun-arm now unresponsive due to the extensive damage, resorts to charging at Nendo with its remaining arm. As its core and computing systems are also affected by the shrapnel cloud, the one-pointer could only manage a glitchy, almost awkward gait. As such, Nendo was able to step out of the way once the robot regained enough control of its functions to plunge its blade-like arm downwards, digging into the concrete.

MISS!

However, in the heat of the moment, he forgot to account the other one-pointer to his left...

One-Pointer Villain 2 Dishes Out A Helping of Bullets!

...Who already had its minigun spinning up before unleashing a torrent of lead. Nendo could barely put up another wall before one of the bullets slipped through and hit him square in the gut, knocking the wind out of the noirette as the bullet bounces off of his flesh. A stinging pain soon follows, forcing Nendo to hunch over and recoil in agony, clutching his stomach with one hand while the other props up the brick wall to block off the rest of the barrage. Despite the one-pointers being ostensibly equipped with less-than-lethal rounds, getting hit by a piece of rubber at high speed is never a pleasant experience.

"Ack! Dammit!" Cursed Nendo, though he was still glad that a nasty bruise and possible internal trauma is all it does, even if a chunk of his health is shaved off. Wizards were never the best at soaking up damage anyway. Shrugging it off, Nendo now turns his attention towards the two-pointer that is currently crawling up the sides of a nearby building, its three red eyes boring into his soul with all the intentions in the world to pounce at him.

Two-Pointer Villain Pounces at Nendo!

And that is exactly what the two-pointer does, hopping off the side of the building and repositioning its body while airborne in order to crush Nendo with its weight once it lands. In spite of his injury, Nendo bites his lip and rolled out of the way leaving the vaguely insectoid robot to reunite with the concrete road instead. However, in doing so the bruise from where the rubber bullet hits him was aggravated, causing Nendo no small amount of discomfort as he winces.

Three-Pointer Villain Rains Missiles Down Upon The Battlefield!

Nendo could barely get some air back into his lungs before he is forced to be on the move again once the whistling sound of guided explosives coursing through the sky. Realizing that with such a dense layer of missiles, dodging or trying to get out of harm's way would be a futile move at best.

Thus, the only option left was to put himself at risk. Summoning bricks at roughly the same number as the missiles, Nendo send each and every single one at the missile rain, controlling them so that they would hit as much missiles as possible. As the sky becomes obscured by the veneer of smoke and explosions, one or two missiles would inevitably slip through the haze and followed Nendo, who hurls himself back into action and ran.

However, this was all just a ruse to get the surviving missiles to line up in single file. Once they are merely a short walk away from him, Nendo abruptly halts and turns around to sent a wall as his parting gift. Due to the distance, the missiles could only slightly veer to the side before one after another crashed into the wall and subsequently each other as well, detonating in a sizable flash of explosion.

Breathing heavily, Nendo could see the shadows of the robots emerging from the smokescreen he created, looming threateningly with their weapons brandished...with the exception of the damaged one-pointer, who still feebly limps along its more functional comrades.

His steeling gaze trained on them, Nendo immediately began to select his skills while cautiously walking towards the villain bots. Seeing how he still has the mana to spare, the teen goes with his sole multi-hit attack once again.

BRICK-CHETTE STORM

Nendo Gathers A Billowing Cloud of Bricks!

Summoning another swarm of tiny bricks, Nendo focuses the cloud into a single ball as he quickly walks around the four robots, cordoning them into a group while avoiding a couple of stray swipes from the one-pointers and the two-pointer. Once he has gathered enough 'buckshot', Nendo instead opted to run up to the metallic beasts, barely dodging the various debris and jagged pieces of metal in his way before hurling the ball of condensed brick matter at them with all of his might.

As the pointers were closer to him and each other this time, the devastating effect of a cloud of booming shrapnel reaches its full potential at point-blank range. The damaged one-pointer and the mostly intact one-pointer, those two being the cloest to the blast, were mercilessly ripped to piece and effectively ending the former's torturously prolonged existence. The small, but penetrating bricks shredded through the two-pointer's armor as well, even severing one of its tails, but the robot's more durable health bar ensured its survival. Smidges of the cloud also chipped away at the three-pointer, but the damage dealt was negligible at best, given how the three-pointer only suffered a few dents and one broken eye.

One-Pointer Villain 1 Was Defeated!

One-Pointer Villain 2 Was Defeated!

The two-pointer, its operating systems analyzing and realizing that it is approaching death's door as its functions began to fail, overclocks its core to force itself to react and move faster, as well as attack with greater intensity. Steam hisses out of the cracks of in between its armor plates as a result of putting its body under sudden strain.

Two-Pointer Villain Is Going All Out! Two-Pointer Villain's Damage Increases!

Two-Pointer Villain's Dexterity Increases!

Two-Pointer Villain Attacks!

A deep crimson aura overshadows the two-pointer's golden aura from earlier as the bot scurry towards Nendo with unprecedented speed, aggressively lashing out and attacking him multiple times, its claws and remaining tail swinging wildly without a care in the world.

Owing to his greater agility, Nendo was able to outmaneuver the claws, tumbling backwards and ducking underneath the wild swings...

MISS!

MISS!

But once the two-pointer performs an overhead strike with its tail, tipped with a sharp edge, the noirette knew he could dodge no longer. Raising his arms, Nendo forms a barrier just in time to prevent the tail tip from gutting him like a fish, or at least cracking his head open like an egg. While the barrier absorbs most of the kinetic force, the power behind the strike was still enough to make Nendo drop to his knees.

Rolling out of the two-pointer's range with his arms still shaking from the shock, Yosuke held his head up, watching out for what would be the three-pointer's next move, since it is arguably the most dangerous of the quartet.

Three-Pointer Villain Attacks!

As the missile racks receded into its back, the three-pointer clamps its front appendages together to form an extremely thick bullbar of sorts, with its hind legs positioned in such a way that allows the three-pointer to move at an surprisingly brisk pace, using its weight and forward momentum to further enhance its speed. Charging towards Nendo, the robot unleashes an electronic roar from under its face plates for added intimidation.

Unlike what the robotic villain expects, it did not work on Nendo. If anything, the black-haired teen is even more pumped now that the three-pointer is charging at him at such a wide open angle, since he is now presented with a chance to counter it.

Creating a large, solid mound of bricks stacked together, Nendo hops back and forth in order to further bait the robot. The three-pointer, being the most heavily-armored, easily pushes through any obstacle in its path, be it pieces of concrete or jagged rebar. However, it would not have the same success with a roadblock roughly its size, as showcased shortly after when Nendo leaps out of the way just when the three-pointer is a few seconds away from turning him into paste, causing it to instead faceplant the brick mound with a deafening crash, completely killing its momentum and stopping the charge dead. The robot removes its head from the mound of brick, but not without electrical whizzles coming out of it.

Three-Pointer Villain Is Stunned For One Turn!

With the huge arrow signifying one's turn pointing down on him again, Nendo decided to switch back to his single-target attacks, just to save up mana for later encounters. As far as he's concerned, this fight is only one out of many, considering how many villain bots there are roaming around even with the other students culling the numbers down.

WALL LAUNCHER

Nendo Offensively Uses A Wall!

Twirling his fist like he is about to deliver a haymaker, Nendo aims at the two-pointer with lesser health and sent the brick walls flying towards it, hoping that he will have one less robot to deal with. The wall was moving at a speed that would be reasonably easy for the villain bot to dodge, given its overclocked processors. The two-pointer was about to leap out of the way...

Until its limbs suddenly lock in place and freeze while it lets out a series of glitchy warbles, with smoke coming out of a vent on top of its head. As there hasn't been a case of a robot purposefully overclocking itself to gain a temporary speed boost, the two-pointer's systems were likely to be ill-equipped to deal with such stress for an extended amount of time. Thus, the two-pointer was left helpless as its systems crashes and becomes blue-screened, unable to do much other than acting as a sitting duck for the wall to come and push it away to be crushed against the building behind it.

Two-Pointer Villain Was Defeated!

And now, there is only one left for Nendo to worry about. The three-pointer, perhaps seeing that it no longer has a numerical advantage to the boy, quickly recovers from its brief period of malfunctioning and scurried away to safety by using a pair of hidden, back-mounted thrusters to leap all the way up a rooftop of another building before looking back down and let out its missile launchers again.

But it still being his turn, Nendo would not allow the three-pointer to replace every oxygen molecule in the air with guided missiles again. As the robot laboriously reloads each barrel of its dual missile batteries, Nendo closes his eyes and concentrate his thoughts as red dust gathers around his right hand.

BRICK SHOT

Nendo Pelted A Brick With Incredible Precision!

As the wind blows up due to the powerful column of air formed by a pair of bricks spinning at a truly ludicrous speed, Nendo lets them hover above his hand for a few moment more before sending the shot at the three-pointer. The bricks course through the air, breaking the sound barrier in the process and kicking up tremendous amounts of dust upon launching.

The three-pointer, having just finished loading its missiles, barely has enough time to register that a projectile composed of two bricks approaching it at incredibly high velocity before the shot ripped through its heavily armored arms and torso like wet toilet paper, thoroughly obliterating the three-pointer and littering pieces of destroyed machinery all over the battlefield.

Three-Pointer Villain Was Defeated!

With the head of his final opponent fell down and rolled before his feet, its red eyes still flickering before finally shutting down for good, Nendo takes this brief moment of respite to catch his breath before jumping with his arms outstretched. "The enemy is defeated!" Uttered Nendo, cheering his victory like how the player character in Arcane Quest would.

CONGRATULATIONS!

RESULTS:

Generic XP Earned! Nendo's Level Increased From LV.7 to LV.8!
"I feel the stats going up!"

Job XP Earned! Nendo's Magician Increased From LV.4 to LV.5!

Pulling his hood back down, Nendo gazed at the robots' destroyed husks before counting on his fingers. So far, he has earned himself... "Nine points? Hey, that's pretty good! Still got to earn more before the timer's out, though." He thought to himself, tying his shoelaces back before sprinting away. Running into a crossroads, Nendo quickly scanned over the paths laid out before him. One path leads to a relatively clean road where villain bots' activity is likely to be low. The other path reveals a wrecked suburbs with destruction strewn across the area, a result of robots wreaking havoc.

Seeing how he is still on borrowed time, Nendo decided to make a gamble by deliberately taking the more dangerous road, knowing that there would be fewer competition there and more robots for him to rack up the points.

Arriving at a desolate landscape, Nendo could see several students battling away at the nigh-endless horde of one and two-pointers, with an occasional three-pointer showing up. Most of them appeared to have contact-based or physical Quirks, considering that a majority opted to go up close and personal in order to smash the bots up.

As such, Nendo, possessing a Quirk that allows him to create and manipulate his own projectiles, holds a distinct advantage over the rest. Strutting into the raging battlefield with a relaxed pace, Nendo calmly speedwalks as one-pointers spotted him and ran over...only to be interrupted by bricks flying through their heads and reducing them to scrap.

With the sight of some jackass wearing a hoodie strolling merrily about while seemingly sentient bricks spontaneously generate around him to take out any robots who dare get close, many were curious as to who this stranger is, as well as scratching their heads in confusion at his apparent power. Granted, weird and strange Quirks are in no short supply, but the ability to spawn bricks and only bricks sounded far too specific to be of any use.

And they would instantly be proven wrong, the moment a two-pointer charges at Nendo, only for him to create a pair of walls and promptly crush the robot in between them by clapping his hands. One of his observers was the uptight, bespectacled guy with engines for legs from before, taken by surprised at how easily Nendo was able to form an area of denial for himself with any approaching bots dropping like flies. Chastising himself for underestimating the weird-haired teen, he uses his Quirk to speedily took off in another direction.

Whistling and generally acting nonchalant as he had ordered the bricks to aim for the head of any robot nearby, Nendo would continue prancing around without a care in the world, before spotting a figure at the corner of his eye. An examinee with messy grey hair, thick, jagged eyelashes and no discernible eyebrows, currently pummeling one-pointers with his bare fists that appear to be covered in grey metallic sheen while grinning maniacally, revealing his set of sharp teeth. He was clad in grey trousers and a mere white shirt.

And a two-pointer was rapidly sneaking up behind him, attempting to pounce on the unsuspecting student. Not letting an act so dishonorable off his radar, Nendo simply spawns another wall and aim it at the two-pointer, before yelling out to the examinee. "BEHIND YOU!"

The student seems to have heard Nendo's call as he turned around, catching a short glimpse of the pouncing two-pointer before a literal wall of bricks interferes with its attack and flattened it against another wall. Flummoxed, he blinks as his wild eyes turned towards Nendo, who simply gave him a thumbs-up.

Astonished and wowed by this sudden, but doubtlessly well-intentioned act of camaraderie, the steel-Quirked teen responded to Nendo's help with an excited, toothy smile and a knowing nod before hopping away again to presumably smash up some more robots.

Warmly smiling to himself, the brick summoner merely hums to himself, walking off with a good feeling in his heart...right before that feeling is summarily extinguished by one of incomprehensible dread, as he saw not one, not two, but three three-pointers showing up out of the blue, their missile batteries already primed. The other competitors spot the trio of death machines as well, their faces sporting a prominent expression of the phrase 'Oh shit'.

What follows could be described as an exaggerated reenactment of the military tactic of 'scorched-earth', Nendo futilely covers his head with a layer of bricks, knowing that it would do jack squat against the utter hailstorm of missiles bombarding the ground to hell and back right now. Eventually, a bomb shelter in the form of large chunks of debris stacked against each other to create a roof comes into view and Nendo wasted no time diving under it.

Hugging his knees and curling into a ball, Nendo silently waited for the missile shower to end, looking vacantly at the multiple ground-shattering ka-booms happening before his very eyes. In spite of constant assault of explosions violating his senses, he could still felt another presence near him. Right next to him, to be precise.

Turning to his left, Nendo saw a girl of much shorter height than he is, with honey brown hair curved inwards to form a bobcut that completely covers her eyes and nearly her face as well, leaving her quivering lips unobscured. Like him, she was also hugging her knees and waiting for all the bombardment outside to be over. She was wearing a tracksuit as well, though a red one with white polka dots and several mushroom-like flaps around the forearms, which is a rather peculiar fashion choice.

A choking silence descends upon the two as they stared at the missiles raining down without a single peep to each other. Having nothing better to do until the bombing is done, Nendo decided to have the first word. "Uh...hello there! Beautiful weather we're having, right?" He said, before mentally slapping himself on the forehead. "How original, Nendo. How original."

The girl did not respond, either out of social anxiety or the fact that it is NOT beautiful weather out there, though she did slightly turn her head towards Nendo. Accepting the simple movement as an indication of progress, Nendo continues the one-sided conversation regardless.

"I'll take that as a yes! Anyway, if you're wondering why am I doing this, that is because I wish to know more about my fellow competitors! Besides, we're stuck here for the meantime, so...why not get to know each other?" Chuckled Nendo, extending a welcoming hand towards her with a small smile. "Yosuke Nendo, pleased to meet ya!"

While she did not take his hand, the perfectly even bangs that kept her eyes her eyes hidden sway ever so slightly to one side, allowing the diminutive girl to peek at the oblivious Nendo. She wasn't expecting to greet and make friends in a place like this at all, so his appearance was rather surprising. "Kinoko Komori." Replied Komori, revealing her name after thinking that it would be rude to not reciprocate Nendo's introduction.

"Hey, that kinda rhymes! Kinoko Komori...get it?" Said Nendo, before coughing upon recognizing his laughable attempt at humor and went a bit quiet shortly after. Tapping his fingers on the ground, Nendo licked his dry lips before opening his mouth again. "But anyway, what's your Quirk?"

Taken aback by Nendo's blunt approach to conversation, Komori silently blushes a bit underneath her bobcut. Knowing the nature of her powers, she doubted that anyone would have shown a cursory amount of curiosity towards it, so Nendo actively asking about her Quirk was something she wasn't equipped to respond with. "M-My Quirk? I-I, uh..." She stutters for a few words, but quickly recomposes herself. "Well, I can make fungal spores from my body...and I can spread it. Stupid Quirk, right-"

Before Komori could self-deprecate any further, Nendo puts a stop to it by raising his open palm at her, telling her to stop. "Stupid? What're you talking about? That's cool as hell! I mean, there's so many uses for it! Like, for example, you can't ever starve because you can just grow some edible mushrooms and cook it up. Or you can spawn poisonous mushrooms and gave enemies status ailments!" He rambles on with childlike wonder in his eyes. "And what do you know, I'm just like you! I can create something, but instead of spores...it's bricks."

As if she wasn't baffled enough by Nendo's warm stance towards her Quirk, which would have been instantly ridiculed by everyone else with a Quirk more viable than hers, she would be now as Nendo spawns a brick in each hand and let them float around. "See? I thought it was dumb at first, but then I realize what I could truly do with this magical power. Making walls, projectiles, and so on. What matters isn't the Quirk itself, but it's how you use it. Don't you agree? I believe, when used properly, your Quirk is one of the more powerful ones I can think of!"

Kinoko doesn't exactly have the answer to his question. For years she has hide away in plain sight, hoping to be ignored instead of having to use her Quirk in a public area. In spite of her mastery with it, she never found it fitting to be called a 'hero' Quirk. Even her own parents, as supportive as they were, told her that it would be better for her to be a horticulturist or other garden-related professions. Even as she insists on entering the Entrance Exam, she hasn't done very well in the practical exam at all, possessing a measly nineteen points. Taking shelter under the debris, hiding like she always has for most of her life, she almost contemplates throwing in the towel...

Before Nendo came along. Despite being complete strangers to one another, not only does he reach out and introduce himself to her, but also takes in the knowledge of her Quirk with nothing but smiles and even encourages her to use it more. Judging by that twinkle in his eye...it seems that he's being honest about it.

Stunned, Komori couldn't make a coherent response other than quiet intonations. In the end, she settled with a simple one. "Thanks, Nendo. That's...nice of you to say." Said the mushroom girl, twirling her thumbs shyly.

"All in good spirits, Komori. No drama about it." Nendo replied with a handwave, looking out of the missile rain which has already begun to peter out rapidly. Less than a minute later, the last missile hits the ground and the bombing ceased. "It stopped at last! Let's move."

Without any further verbal interaction, Nendo and Komori crawled out of their makeshift bomb shelter and take a look at the scenery. Columns of acrid smoke rose into the air, nearly blotting out the sky. The examinees, some taking refuge in other parts of the district while others with durability-enhancing Quirks outlast the missile saturation and stood tall amongst the wreckage, is now faced with an even greater concentration of villain bots emerging from underground compartments.

"Damn..." Whistled Nendo, in awe of the sheer amount of robots flooding in. "Oh well, more points for the rest of us. The problem is how..."

Komori's sullen expression didn't changed much, other than her fidgeting getting a lot worse. "I don't think our Quirks are made for dealing with large hordes of villains. That, and the fact that others are already starting to curb them down..." She said with a voice that is barely above a whisper, watching the examinees fighting back the horde, some of them racking up considerable amounts of points.

Nendo, however, was thinking about something different. If neither of their Quirks have significant offensive potential, then what about combining them instead? Present Mic never specified whether or not students are allowed to help and assist each other, and considering what happened at the start of the exam when that twinkling guy saved him and Izuku from a stray one-pointer...

Rubbing his chin with a grin slowly spreading from ear to ear, Nendo laughed lowly to himself, much to the confusion of Komori. Feeling obliged to check if he hasn't gone mad from despair and hopelessness, she gently shook his arm, not being able to reach higher. "Nendo? Are you alright?"

Wiping away a single tear, Nendo turns back, the smug grin still plastered on his face. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" He asked rhetorically, leaning down to eye level with Komori which prompts a little yelp from her, not used to being this close to a male.

"Uh...no?"

"Let me get this straight. You can grow mushrooms, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Good. Can you make mushrooms that are really, really brightly colored? And sticky as well?"

"Hmm...are you speaking about the likes of Amanita muscaria and Hydnellum peckii? As for sticky, I think we can settle with Saproamanita thiersii. Though we might need some moisture beforehand." Replied Komori, inadvertly showing off her expertise with mushrooms and fungi by spouting names that Nendo would find in an encyclopedia.

"I have no idea what you just said, but let's go with it!" Said a peppy Nendo, clapping his hands together before placing a hand on his heart and pointing a finger upwards. "I hereby declare a partnership between us! We'll work together, and get equal points for each other. Sounds good?"

The mushroom girl looked almost hesitant. She was a bit wary that this might just a ruse, partly because of how straightforward Nendo is, but a nagging feeling on the back of her head tells her to go through with it. After all, what's the worst that can happen with a crazy-haired guy? "Um...okay."

"Excellent!" Nendo clapped his hands before he guides Komori into a more obscure corner of the site to prevent any eavesdroppers trying to figure out their genius idea and foiling it. "Now, here's the plan..."

Kinoko wasn't sure what Nendo had in mind exactly, but she deems him to be a trustworthy person. As such, her ears perked up, ready to listen to whatever schemes he might propose.

-Meanwhile...

In the darkened observation room reserved only for the staff of U.A, multiple figures sat monitoring the situation in each examination site with a gigantic screen that projects a number of windows, with each window either focusing on a single student or a particular section of a site. While the monitoring process was mostly spend in total silence, every now and then, someone would speak up their mind.

"A strict time limit and a vast battleground...nothing quite like those to make everyone push to the limit and bring out their skills." Comes the calm, collected voice of a dwarfish figure that appears to be shorter than everyone else in the room. "After all, the basic qualities of a proper hero includes insight..." He said, looking at one window showing an examinee patiently observing the area from the top of a building, a multitude of arm-like tentacles sprouting from the same sockets along with his original arms.

"Agility..." Another window pops up, now with the bespectacled speedster from before zipping across the wreckage and punting any robot unfortunately enough to be in his way with enough force to send them flying.

"Judgement..." The image of the flamboyant French-speaking teen posing like a model as his belly laser cuts through two scores of robots, still keeping enough of his cool to wink at the camera pops up soon after.

"And last but certainly not least...sheer, overwhelming fighting prowess." Another window appears, depicting Bakugo standing on a mountain of destroyed robots with his hands still smoking from blowing things up with malicious intent.

"My, my. Seems like we raked ourselves quite a bumper crop this year." A female staff mused, with a voice that could be legally categorized as a powerful aphrodisiac.

"Yes...but not for long. Can't be sure about which of these kids have the true makings of a hero yet. That is why..." Enters a raspy voice, his shaky, bone-thin hand flicking up the protective casing of a big, red button that will either blow everything up or activate something that is just as bad. "Their real test of mettle will come soon. Then, we shall know who "

"Er, pardon me for asking, but shouldn't we save the zero-pointer for later?" A figure with square, blocky features raised his hand, expressing his concerns. "I mean, they're still having to deal with the sudden influx of villains down there."

"I understand your concerns, Ishiyama. But that's what I'm aiming towards. Only when faced against seemingly impossible odds stacking heavily against one's favor..." Replied the raspy voice, his hand hovering above the button. "Does one's true nature comes forth."

But just before the button can be pressed, however, another staff member cried out in a manner that heavily resembles a dog barking angrily. "HANG ON, DO WE ALLOW THE USE OF OUTSIDE VEHICLES IN THIS EXAM?"

"If I recall correctly...no? Why ask such a question?" Replied the raspy voice as the rest of the staff switched their gazes towards the offending monitor the staff member in question is looking at.

"THEN WHY IS THERE A GODDAMN TANK HERE, IN SITE 4?! AND WHY IS IT SO RED AND UGLY AND...COVERED IN MUSHROOMS?" Described the angry voice, though little did everyone know, he was speaking nothing but the truth.

-Back at the site...

"What did I get myself into?" Thought Komori, currently sitting on top of Nendo's shoulders with her legs wrapped around his neck and peeking through the gaps running along the hatch of the 'tank' Nendo created, being on the lookout for any villain bots. As it turns out, Nendo's genius plan was to turn them into a huge target, or 'drawing aggro' as he calls it. By creating a rough copy of one of the sturdiest vehicles known to man and growing all sorts of colorful mushrooms around it, both Nendo and Komori hoped to make themselves as attractive to the robots as possible.

Of course, being made entirely out of bricks, the 'tank' only vaguely resembles an actual tank. While its shape is convincing enough if observed from a distance, upon closer inspection, one could see all sorts of imperfection with it: Gaps instead of a periscope for outside vision, a cannon that is just a long rod formed by bricks with no actual function, and treads that suspiciously lack wheels that would be needed for movement. And that's not even factoring in the wide variety of bright mushrooms lining the sides and the top of the tank.

Despite the obviously fake look, their plan worked. Its systems fooled, a one-pointer ditches its current target, a pint-sized student with large purple balls sticking to his scalp, and latches onto the tank as it slowly trundles through the scenery.

"How's it looking up there?" Asked Nendo, directing the tank with only a single brick-wide gap to provide him with enough vision to see where he's going. "I heard something bumping into us!"

Komori was far too frightened by the one-pointer abruptly leaping on their tank and began clawing away at the armor to reply, but she quickly gulps and peered down on Nendo. "U-Uh, we have a one-pointer on us now." She replied, before looking back up with a mild blush. Having the foresight to grow a colony of bioluminescent fungi inside the tank, both of them could easily see each other inside the darkened cockpit of the tank...and Komori could very much see and feel Nendo's head sandwiched between her thighs.

Nendo doesn't seem to mind it as much as she does, however. "Good! Come on, we need a couple more!" He cheered, before the tank sped up dramatically, now moving across the terrain at a surprisingly brisk pace as opposed to lumbering like before.

As Nendo somehow do donuts and drifts with a tank, more and more villain bots are drawn towards it. At first, there was only the one-pointers, but once Nendo began opportunistically running several robots over with his vehicle of destruction, two-pointers join the fray as well, latching onto the tank and try to pierce through with their claws and tails. Within short notice, the amount of one and two-pointers sticking onto the tank, both intentionally and unwittingly thanks to Komori's sticky mushrooms, has formed a sizable bush full of murderous robots around the fake vehicle.

"Don't think we can move no more!" Exclaimed Nendo, no longer able to see through his gap as it was blocked by the limb of a one-pointer swinging at him. By now, 'a couple more' has grown into triple digits. "How's it looking up there?!"

Komori was in a similar dilemma, already keeping her head down once the density of villain bots blocked the gaps around the hatch as well. Droplets of sweat born of worry ran down her face, she held tightly onto Nendo's head. "They're...everywhere..." She spoke slowly, silently rocking back and forth with a look of unspeakable horror in her eyes.

"Then it's time to get the hell out! Bye bye tank, you served your master well!" Nendo saluted their faithful vehicle with all his heart, before pressing an imaginary spot on a piece of brick that was meant for an escape button. Instantly, a gap the size of two people opened up behind them, and he and Komori were promptly ejected to safety, sliding and landing several dozen meters away from the beleaguered tank.

Standing up and letting Komori down on her feet, Nendo stares at their handiwork with pride. "Look! They're all trapped, thanks to you!" He gave the short girl a little pat on the back, pointing at the white, sticky sap that oozes all over the nooks and crannies of the robots, glueing them to the tank.

It was then that Komori snaps out of her stupor and blinks at what she and Nendo achieved. Feeling a tad embarrassed that he praised her, Kinoko hides her face further inside her all-encompassing bobcut. "I-It's nothing. Just...the Thier's lepidellas doing their work."

"Aw, come on. Don't sell yourself short, Komori. We did this together! We! Did this!" He spoke with a booming tone, pointing at the mass of trapped bots. "Together. If it wasn't for you, they would have gotten away and our efforts would have been for naught!" Declared the black-haired teen with a hot-blooded smile. Komori, for all of her shyness, cracked a genuine smile of her own. She couldn't help it, as Nendo has this odd, almost hypnotically inspirational quality to his voice and mannerisms. The way he does everything, even something as simple as praising, with 110% effort just sparks a fuzzy feeling of gratitude in her being.

"Besides, the real fun hasn't even started yet."

"Huh?" What did he meant by that, she wondered?

"What, you thought I'm just gonna let them off like that? No way! We still got a score to settle with those three-pointers." He said, jabbing an accusing finger at the trio of three-pointers that started the missile rain. "While they did create the circumstances leading to our fated meeting, they're still villains. And so, we gotta take them out too!"

And then, he gets down on one knee and extended a hand towards Komori. "Have you ride rollercoasters before?" He asked, seemingly out of nowhere.

Due to the off-the-cuffs nature of the question, Komori was unsure of how to respond at first. "What...do you mean?" Nonetheless, she takes her chances and took Nendo's hand for the first time. Her first time touching a boy's hand...and his was quite warm. A bit rough, but warm and welcoming.

"Just asking. Have you ride one before?"

"I, uh...did. Back when I was little, I think. It was a really dizzy experience."

"Cool, because what happens next is gonna put that to shame." He said, not even taking a moment to feel the texture of her hand before placing Komori on his back, staring forward with a determined glare. "You ready for this?"

"N-Nendo, what are you going to do-"

"LET'S GO!" Nendo shouts as he breaks into a short sprint, culminating with curling into a ball mid-air. Before either him or Komori could hit the ground however, an unusually large amount of bricks spawned out of thin air and began circling and forming a spherical barrier around the two of them. More layers are added to the sphere as more bricks stacked.

Once the process was done, all that is left is a giant, spinning ball made of bricks, looming a shadow over a nearby one-pointer. Foolishly, the robot pounces as the ball rotates faster and faster, to the point that it kicks up huge shrouds of shattered concrete and brick dust. The moment the one-pointer actually gets into melee range, the ball lets go and rolls forwards, effortlessly crushing the robotic villain under its mass.

The pointers left trapped at the tank didn't fare any better as they too were crushed, crunching like dry leaves under the sheer weight of the ball and sending bits of metal and burnt clay all over the place as the tank was caught in the way as well.

Rolling across the fields like an unstoppable force of nature, the brick ball utterly demolishes anything in its path, be it one-pointers, two-pointers or even an occasional three-pointer, all while avoiding the students by making huge twists. Because of its size, the ball drastically alters its direction with even the slightest of turns.

"What the hell?!" Exclaimed one examinee, questioning the existence of a giant ball formed from bricks.

"AGH!" Comes the shriek of another examinee, feeling more than a little spooked at the rampaging ball's path of destruction.

"Holy shit!"

The robots made one last attempt at rushing the ball en masse; they too were flattened. Making a beeline towards the trio of three-pointers from earlier, who have already trying to flee to safety, the ball uses a nearby mound of assorted wreckage as a ramp to launch itself into the air, flying right above the three-pointers...

Before inexplicably halting its flight in the middle of the airborne trip and slamming its full weight down on an unlucky three-pointer below, reducing the missile bot to smithereens and detonating whatever ammunition it has left in its body. Unsurprisingly, this did not do much damage to the wrecking ball other than chipping the exterior.

Levitating into the air again, the ball aims for the three-pointer to its left before flying in and crushing the robot against a building. The remaining three-pointer empties its missiles at the ball, which reciprocates its futile attempts by gently rolling over and repeatedly running back and forth on the robot until the three-pointer drawn its last beep.

With the task completed, the ball briefly vibrates before crumbling into individual bricks once again, revealing Nendo and Komori lying flat on the ground with whirling birdies in their eyes. Nendo was the first to wake up, turning over on his stomach and sitting up while covering his mouth to avoid upchucking his breakfast. "Ugh...alright, lesson learned. Remind me to never do that again. I think I puked a little in the back of my throat."

Kinoko sits back up soon after, but unlike Nendo, queasiness and severe nausea isn't what she was feeling. Instead, it was a rush of exhilaration. "That. Was. AWESOME! That was so cool!" She jumps up, parting her bangs and letting Nendo see her eyes for the first time since their meeting. "We have to do that again sometime!" Said Komori as she grabs Nendo's arm and lift him up.

"W-Wait, you actually liked that? Guess I underestimated you...big time." Said Nendo in between nauseous coughs and pangs of headache, incredulous that the small-statured Komori was unfazed throughout the entire thing, which he compares to being trapped in a hamster ball that is coming down from the top of a mountain. Still, it was his idea to begin with, so Nendo didn't say anything else about the matter.

"Oh, would you look at this! The robots are all gone!" Komori happily said, gazing across the site to see the surroundings being absolutely littered with broken robots. From where Nendo was standing, he could see that not all of them were gone; there was still quite a few left, but for some reason, they willingly leave the students alone, not even threatening them or anything like that. It was almost as if they were...running away.

Hearing no words from Nendo, Komori felt brave enough to slightly nudge him in the arm to get his attention. "Hello? Nendo? You seem oddly quiet."

It would be another ten seconds of warily looking around before Nendo said anything. "Something ain't right. Stay on your toes."

"What are you talking about? We flattened them all!" Proclaimed Komori, her cross-sliced pupils flashing with confidence.

"Not all of them." That was his only reply as he points towards several groups of one-pointers scuttering away.

"Well, okay...but at least they're leaving us alone, right?" Komori spoke up again, the valor in her voice faltering a fair bit. Again, no response from the usually-talkative teen. "Right?"

"You know what a goblin is?" Asked Nendo with an uncharacteristically quiet tone.

"Y-Yes?" She replied, her voice getting smaller and smaller by the second.

"Well, the one, two and three-pointers...they're like goblins. They aren't too choosy about who to attack, you know? But if you're still surrounded by goblins, and they ain't attacking?" He said, ominously staring at the distance as the last of the 'normal' villain bots left the area. "That means there's an orc around."

Just then, the very ground beneath them shakes. The examinees collectively felt the tremor under their legs and all turned their heads towards the ever-growing cloud of dust in the distance with the appropriate emotions: worry, unease and pants-shitting terror.

Lumbering and stomping its way through entire buildings like wading through water, was a truly titanic robot that vastly towers above any other bots in terms of size and very likely strength as well. Casting a shadow over the students and even nearby buildings, the gargantuan automaton slammed its fists together to generate a shockwave that vibrates down every single person's spine, giving everyone a very obvious cue as to what they should be doing now.

"RUN!" Shouted a male student, turning on his heels and bolted in the opposite direction. Soon enough, the others followed suit, trying their best to get the hell away from this menacing titan of a villain bot, even resorting to push others back just to ensure their own survival.

Meanwhile, Nendo and Komori stood still, looking at the zero-pointer approaching them with a dead-eyed stare. "Huh. Well, I stand corrected. The thing is, that's not an orc..." Said Nendo, feeling paradoxically satisfied that his suspicions were right. Slowly, his ghost of a grin diminishes into a frown of dread. "That's a whole-ass DRAGON!"

And with that, both he and Komori turn around and flee like their lives depend on it. In a sense, that last part is accurate.

"TWO MINUTES REMAINING!" Come the voice of Present Mic through a megaphone installed somewhere nearby, unhelpfully reminding the panicking students of the current time.

"I-I thought they said it was a gimmick!" Pondered Komori, running as fast as her little legs could carry her.

"HE LIED! Thwomps don't chase you around like that!" Nendo said, feeling utterly betrayed as dramatic tears flow from his eyes. "How could he?!" Vaulting over a downed electric pole while Kinoko slides under it, the two of them ran into an unexpected figure sitting on his knees, teary-eyed.

"Izu!" Nendo exclaimed, rushing over to his green-haired friend and helping him up by the arm. "Come on, we gotta get out of here!" He ushered. In spite of Nendo's efforts, Izuku does not seem to have much of a reaction to it. And then, against all logical thinking, the greenette breaks away from the noirette's arms and ran towards the zero-pointer.

"Izu, NO! Stop, you dumbass! It's a zero-pointer, it's not worth it-" Nendo futilely reach his hand out to Izuku. He ran after the teen and was about to grab him, until he gets a good look as to why Izuku was running towards the metallic monstrosity.

As soon as most of the dust clears, it reveals Ochako with her right leg entrapped by a piece of rubble and visibly struggling to get out. He could see a few other students trying to run as well, but can't as a result of their injuries. Izuku didn't face the zero-pointer out of some misguided sense of pride. No, he was doing so to protect those who can't protect themselves.

And that invigorated Nendo. Brushing aside all of his fears, the frilly-haired teen takes a leap and took off towards the zero-pointer as well, creating a platform under his feet to approach the robot with greater speed.

"Nendo-kun! Where are you going?!" Komori, in a terrible combination of panic at the giant robot and worry for Nendo rushing at said robot, called out to him in a manner that would sound a bit...affectionate out of context.

"I ain't leaving him behind!" Even when heading into what could be his doom, Nendo still turns around to give Komori one last reassuring smile. "I'll catch up to you later! Now go!" And with that, he continues his charge, mentally commanding bricks, both spawned and from outside sources, to gather around his arms.

-At the same time...

"There is no merit for taking on that villain, and when faced against such an impossible threat, a smart person would have cut their losses and make a run for it. But fortunately..." Stated the raspy voice, now grinning triumphantly at the sight of his successor act exactly like how he wanted it to be: without hesitation nor fear. "A real hero ought to be a little stupid. That is the spirit of self-sacrifice!"

Looking at the main screen, what he saw next arguably brings even greater happiness in that his successor wasn't the only person to face the zero-pointer alone. From the corner of the screen comes a student clad in a red hoodie while clutching onto a massive battering ram made of bricks, while screaming his lungs out. "Ah, young Nendo...I knew that the prospect of you going to juvie was far too absurd." He thought to himself, resisting the urge to transform in the process.

The staff of U.A leaned forward, one half nervously observing Izuku getting ever so close to the zero-pointer's monumental feet indiscriminately stepping on everything with as much care as a human would to a bug, while the other half eagerly watches Nendo speeding towards the robot while riding a flying battering ram, amusedly talking amongst themselves of how boneheaded of a move it is.

-Back at the site...

The hot wind blowing on his face, Nendo couldn't help but yell, partly to announce every living being on sight that there's a crazy guy riding a massive battering ram that is also hovering above the ground and flying, mainly because he is going so fast that the skin around his eyes and mouth is flapping uncontrollably while his legs dangle loosely in the air.

He could just slow the ram down, but then it wouldn't produce enough momentum to do damage against the zero-pointer. As such, he telekinetically commands the battering ram to go even faster. If he couldn't take out the zero-pointer on his own, then he might as well weaken it to give someone else a fighting chance.

The students fallen behind, who were cowering just a moment ago, felt the sensation of something big and long rushing past them at neckbreak speed, and looked up to catch a split-second of Nendo dangling by the side of a battering ram made entirely out of bricks...

Before the floating siege engine smashes right into the zero-pointer's left leg. The battering ram was reduced to dust from making such an earth-shattering impact with the robot's durable armor, and Nendo was punted away due to the aftershock. As he tumbled to the ground, the sound of metal bending comes next. Ignoring the growing pains around his body from landing so hard, Nendo stumbled to his feet.

Even if the ram was destroyed upon impact, it did its job. As hardy as the zero-pointer is, it wasn't expecting a sudden and powerful force hitting one of the more comparatively delicate parts of its structure. Losing its footing, the giant robot was forced to lean onto a nearby building for support, thus halting any further movement.

Using this brief period of levity, Nendo clumsily ran over to Uraraka's side and hastily form a pair of crude-looking hands that better resembles mittens than actual hands and push the rubble away, freeing her leg. "You okay? Izu sent me." He asked, catching her arm and giving her a lift.

"N-Nendo?" Ochako's hazy eyes took a moment to make out his features, but sure enough, it was one of the two boys she met at the entrance gate. "I think I'm-ow!" Feeling a short but burning pain on her leg, she looked down.

"Aw, crap! Your ankle's sprained." Nendo noted, creating a 'bed' for Ochako, complete with an angle to allow her to lean against. It's not the most comfy thing around, but at least it's flat and doesn't have any jagged edges that could hurt her. Putting her in a bridal carry, Nendo placed Ochako on the brick bed. "There. Try not to move too much."

Now with Uraraka taken care of, Nendo turns around to look for his friend...only for a green blur to zip past above his head, creating a gust of wind that nearly cause him to fall. Blinking with his mouth agape from awestruck, Nendo witnesses Izuku somehow leaping fifty meters into the air, his body sparking and flashing with a red glow of power as green electric bolts emanate from his fist as if holding lightning.

Izuku kept on soaring higher and higher, until he is face to face with the zero-pointer itself. Epic music exploded inside of Nendo's head as he lets his restrained imagination run wild, and through the eyes of madness, he sees Izuku facing against the zero-pointer as the modern day retelling of David and Goliath. And to cap off what will forever remain in his memory as the most awe-inspiring thing ever...

"SMASH!" Izuku roared from the bottom of his heart, swinging his electrifying fist forward and make contact with the zero-pointer's head. The moment his fist lands, the robot's head can be seen folding and crumpling like paper for the first second or two before its entire upper torso caves in with its internal machinery blasting out of its back like an overcooked burrito. The head itself was punched clean off, landind several hundred meters back before exploding due to the sheer damage frying its circuits, shrouding the area in fire.

Ochako and the rest of the examinees dropped their jaws, gazing in silent shock at the sight of the zero-pointer's headless body falling on its back, resulting in a miniature earthquake. As for Nendo...

"Yes! YES! I KNEW IT! I GODDAMN KNEW IT!" It was the most magical and transcendental thing he has ever witnessed. All these years, he always believed that Izuku was not Quirkless, but is simply a late bloomer. In the end, his beliefs were not unfounded. "YOU HAVE A QUIRK! A SUPER POWERFUL ONE AT THAT!" Nendo cheered, pumping his fists to flaunt his victory over the people who thought otherwise about his Izu-chan.

Izuku, on the other hand, wasn't exactly as thrilled about taking out a giant robot. "OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD I'M FALLING!" He screamed in his mind, flailing his limbs to no avail. In fact, doing so merely exacerbates the sharp, piercing pain in his punching arm and his legs, the former of which now flaps around uselessly as every centimeter of bone in it was shattered.

Watching Izuku falling helplessly with nothing to land on but the cold, hard ground, Nendo immediately stops celebrating and all the color rapidly drains from his face as panic sets in. "Oh shit!" He cursed, wondering what he could do to save his friend from a fall that would be inevitably fatal.

Guess where Izuku will land and catch him? While not possible, the speed and height at which the greenette is falling from would potentially kill the both of them, or give him crippling spinal injury.

Make a nice platform for Izuku to land on? No, that will break every other bone in his body and kill him, and leave Nendo with a guilty conscience for the rest of his life.

Calling for help? Why, that seemed like the most sensible thing. "Help! Fire! Murder! Somebody!" Nendo screamed as loud as he can, running in circles to make a scene out of it, hoping that others will notice. Nobody from the crowd actually came, save for one.

"Nendo!" Komori's meek, timid voice raised above the octave it usually resides at, running as fast as she could towards the brick-controlling teen. Utterly relieved to see the girl again, Nendo could barely get more than one or two coherent words out, pointing frantically at the falling Izuku. She couldn't exactly make out what his words, but understands that Nendo wanted to save that falling boy.

Walking and narrowing her hidden eyes at Izuku, Komori raises her hands and slowed her breathing. A cloud of fungal spores, invisible to any eye but hers, sprayed across the general area that the greenette would most likely to land on and rooted themselves into the surface. Then, she leaps up and down, chanting all the while. "Armillaria ostoyae! Grow grow, grow and grow, grow as big as you can for me!"

Upon finishing her incantation, the spores began to germinate with supernatural speed and within a blink of an eye, there is now a colony of brown mushrooms with each individual fungus the size of a grown adult and possessing an especially pronounced cap that is as wide as the mushrooms are tall.

Meanwhile, Izuku's fall finally comes to a dramatic conclusion. But there was a twist, since instead of the clichéd ending where the hero will violently reunite with the concrete ground and become one with it, Izuku bounces harmlessly off the mushrooms and spiral back into the air once more.

As his head spins in conjunction with his body, not knowing where he will land next or how long he will remain in flight, Izuku could only hope that he doesn't perish...before a pair of arms abruptly catches him. He could felt the person catching him taking several steps back from the force before balancing themselves.

The feeling of the person's arms was faintly familiar to him. Even when his eyes were still blurring from motion sickness, Izuku could never mistake Nendo's face from anyone else. "Oh, thank the primordial spirits of bricks you're okay!" He said, cracking a smile upon seeing that his friend was fine. Well, mostly fine. Edging his neck out, Nendo couldn't help but let out a horrified gasp at the sorry state of Izuku's right arm. "Izu, your arm-!"

The greenette, incidentally, was weeping. But not for the reasons Nendo might have thought about. "I couldn't get a single point...and I already broke my arm..." He choked out in between sobs, wiping away the tears and snot with his other, uninjured arm.

"What are you talking about?" Asked Nendo with a bemused tone, looking back at the destroyed zero-pointer. "You took out a huge-ass robot. With one punch. One. PUNCH. Stop putting yourself down! If the teachers don't at least give you a pass for doing something like that, I'll eat my own hat!"

"The one with antlers?" Despite the pain eating away at his arm and the looming sense of failure approaching, Izuku still finds a bit of humor in himself to reply accordingly.

"Oh, come on. That was a Christmas thing!" Nendo rebuked with slight embarrassment. That one time, he decided to buy a Christmas-themed outfit for the holiday from a dealer...only for it to be one for girls instead. Thus, he attended the party held by the Midoriyas wearing a bright red dress and an antler hat.

Izuku snickered lightly, before perking up all of the sudden. "Wait, Uraraka! Is she alright?" Wordlessly, Nendo turns around treated him to the sight of Ochako still resting on the brick bed created by him, albeit with a busted ankle.

"I got you covered." Nendo winks at him, before getting down on his knees and gently placed Izuku on a flat surface, taking special caution when setting his battered arm down. "If you need anything, just tell me. Until then, let's wait for the doctor."

"B-But...what about the points-"

Nendo's only reply was to point his thumb at the downed zero-pointer again. Izuku, getting what his friend is implying, simply laid down and rest, closing his eyes a bit. Even if he doesn't earn any points...he felt like he has done his absolute best today. Besides, maybe, just maybe, the written exams will carry him through. He would have to thank Nendo for that later. If it wasn't for the teen's constant encouragement, he might still be a crying wreck at this point.

"AND..." The bombastic vocals of Present Mic rang through all seven examination sites again, further amplified by the megaphones. "TIME'S UP! STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING!"

As the examinees that have fled the scene when the zero-pointer showed up flood in the area again, Izuku and Nendo quickly become the talk of the crowd, moreso about the former than the latter, given his terrifying display of superhuman strength. A few expressed their disbelief at someone as fragile-nerved as Izuku could hold such power, while others argue that it was a deliberate ploy to outwit the rest of them.

Nendo usually wouldn't bother with that kind of gossip, if it weren't for a couple of students saying that Izuku faced against the zero-pointer for bragging rights. Should Nendo have it his way, he would no doubt march over to give each and everyone of them a piece of his mind. Did they not realize that instead of fleeing, Izuku chose to take out the robot not out of vainglory, but to protect those who are clearly in distress?

Resisting the urge to raise his voice, Nendo continues tending to his friend.

Standing not far away was examinee 7111, his face wearing a very conflicted expression with his hands relaxed and numb at the revelation. "Did any of you even paid attention? That's not it at all! He leapt into action to save that girl! And that kid..." His steely eyes turn towards Nendo. "He was out of harm's way, and his points guaranteed a pass too...and yet, he decide not to fled. They both jump in without hesitation!"

Balling his fists and ashamed at his own behavior, the bespectacled young man admitted to himself that he was far too worried about his performance than to actually be what he came here to be and help those in need. "If it wasn't for this being a big exam, I would have done the same!" He mentally berates himself, before realizing how hollow his words rung: he could have easily achieved that with his speed. "Maybe...that was the test all along? To test our moral and mental fortitude when pitted against seemingly insurmountable opposition?"

While 7111 was busy tearing himself apart on the inside, a member of the staff has shown up in the scene. An elderly lady who is tiny in stature, walking around and giving out free candy and gummy bears for the examinees.

Having no prior knowledge of who she was, Nendo leaned down next to Izuku's ear. "Who's that?"

"Oh, her? That's Recovery Girl, the Youthful Heroine." Replied Izuku, before wincing again and lightly clutching his broken arm. The pain is getting worse by the second.

"Youthful?" Thought Nendo, raising a skeptical eyebrow at Recovery Girl. He doesn't wish to disrespect an elder, but did she ever thought of changing her title to something more accurate to her age? Nonetheless, he shrugs off that line of thought as the senior nurse approached him and Izuku.

"Oh dear me. Looks like somebody worked themselves up a little too hard. I swear, they make these tests more and more dangerous every year." Recovery Girl grumbled in righteous indignation, before bending down and give Izuku's afflicted arm a kiss. The two were caught off-guard by her action, until Izuku felt the pain in his arm fading away at an alarming rate. Soon, it didn't hurt quite as bad anymore. "There we go. Just need to put a cast on it now."

Nendo watched with open surprise as Recovery Girl quite literally kissed the boo-boos away, with the misshapen arm miraculously snapping itself back into place, the ripped skin around the knuckles growing back and the purple bruises disappearing by large patches. Before he could lose his mind over how the phrase commonly used by parents to coddle their kids does actually have basis in reality, as proven here, Recovery Girl turns to him. "What about you, sonny? Need any help? You look pretty duffed up yourself."

"Huh?" With that one-word reply, he looked down on himself. Only then, does he realize that he isn't entirely unscathed either. Rips and tears here and there on his hoodie, scratches on his face as a result from the shrapnels of the bombing, and not to mention the spot where he got hit by the rubber bullet. "Eh...I'll live."

Unconvinced that he is unhurt, Recovery Girl narrows her eyes as she softly jabs him in the stomach with her walking cane, which incidentally looks like an oversized syringe. As expected, Nendo shortens his breath and grunted with barely stifled pain. "Don't lie to a helping hand. Do. You. Need. Help?" She said, adding punctuation for extra emphasis.

"...Yes." Nendo meekly replied, keeping his head low.

"That's what I want to hear." Said Recovery Girl as she took his hand and gave it a little kiss. As her Quirk does its magic, Nendo could feel the little pins and needles in his limbs and the ache in his abdomen subsiding. In no time at all, he felt like a new person.

"Woah, that felt good! Thanks, Recovery Girl!" Said Nendo, massaging his biceps and shoulders and did a little stretch to test his renewed body. Then, he points at where Ochako is, still resting on the brick bed. "You might want to look back there. There's a girl with a busted ankle and several others I didn't get the chance to take a good look at."

The elderly heroine gives Nendo a warm smile before leisurely trot over to Ochako to inspect her injury. Nendo simply shrugs his shoulders as he went back to Izuku, who is now standing up as his arm recovered somewhat. The two exchanged a few looks before the noirette sparked another conversation. "See? I knew you have a Quirk all along, Izu." Nendo joked, implying the reason behind the state of his friend's arm.

"Fine, fine. You were right. I do have a Quirk. Just didn't think it would hurt me...this bad." Izuku replied absentmindedly, his eyes wandering elsewhere.

"Well then, you just gotta train with it more! It's like weapons with a level cap. You can't use it to its full extent until you're at the level required-" Nendo rambles on in video game terms again, until he notices that Izuku wasn't paying attention. Following the greenette's eyes, Nendo now knew why. And it fills him with an irritating smugness yet again.

"Still having that gaze of longing towards the one that stole your heart?" Asked Nendo with an ornate manner of speech, peeking his head over Izuku's shoulder. Jumping away in embarrassment, a red-faced Izuku flails his arms in an attempt to rectify any inappropriate thoughts Nendo might have had.

"For the last time, it's nothing like that! I-It's..." Izuku tried his best to find the correct words for what he was about to say, but couldn't find any that Nendo won't mercilessly tease him about. Thus, all that comes out were half-coherent words about how he doesn't and absolutely will not have a crush on Ochako.

Meanwhile, Nendo simply let the words come in one ear and out of another. "...And that's why I do NOT have a crush on her! I just wanted to thank her for stopping my fall, that's all!"

"Do it, then. Tell her that."

"E-Eh?! B-But what if she's still hurt? What if she's tired and don't want to listen to me-"

Eventually, he puts a stop to Izuku's stutters by grabbing him by the shoulders, pushing him down a brick chair he created beforehand and ordered the chair to levitate towards the brown-haired girl.

No words was needed. This is all Nendo needs to do to tell Izuku to 'go and tell her yourself'. As Izuku and Ochako traded one-word replies and short talks with each other, with the former blushing like a tomato and the latter twiddling her fingers nervously, Nendo sat down and gazed upwards and into the dimming sky, whistling to himself all the while.

"Wonder what Mrs. Midoriya has for dinner?"

-0-

After the examinees are all checked for underlying injuries and wounds, they were sent to the entrance gate, free to leave and head home. As the crowd of students disperse, only Nendo and Izuku were left still standing in front of the gate, engaging in amicable banter about various topics, mostly about how the latter's mom is going to threw a fit once she saw the cast applied to his arm.

"Ugh...mom is so going to kill me. Either that, or a month of not leaving the house." Bemoaned Izuku, fiddling around with the straps of his cast. Nendo's only response was a laugh and a hearty slap on the greenette's back. He finds it to be rather amusing that Izuku held the power to obliterate a robot that towers over most buildings, yet still adheres to the fear of his mother like a dogma.

"Relax, Izu! She'll understand. After all, you had just discovered your Quirk; it's natural to not hold back the first time. Besides, you still got me. I'll just say it like this." Said Nendo, before taking in a large gasp of air to puff his chest up and make his voice seem deeper. "'Oh, but Mrs. Midoriya! Your son here has shown inspiring feats of unparalleled heroism! Not only do his biceps of iron and steel, crafted from the gods themselves, smited the soulless automatons asunder, but he also have saved the lives of countless compatriots in mortal danger in the name of good sportsmanship and a passionate desire to protect the weak-"

Before Nendo could finish his elaborate, hypothetical speech to Mrs. Midoriya detailing a greatly exaggerated account of what happened today, Izuku puts a stop to it by putting a hand on his mouth. "PLEASE...do not say that in front of my mom, I'm begging you. If you do, I'm just gonna find a nice, comfy hole to live out the rest of my days in." Izuku jokingly pleaded to Nendo, even clapping his hands together and praying to the noirette. However, they both knew it was in good spirits. And so, the duo broke into a series of friendly laughter.

As Nendo was always the more easily-amused one of the two, he has to stop and lean against a hedge just so that he could stop laughing, lest he suffocates on his own chuckles. However, as he did so, Nendo spotted a familiar face walking by her lonesome several rows behind where he is.

Feeling something getting stuck in his chest, Nendo hops back towards Izuku, nearly crashing into him while doing so. "Hey Izu, how about you go back first? I got some, uh..." A long pause went by before the noirette finds the excuse to, well, excuse himself from Izuku's presence. "Catching up to do. See ya back at the house!"

Without rhyme or reason, Nendo leaps over the freshly trimmed hedge and seemingly hides behind it. Izuku, none the wiser, was very much confused by his actions, but eventually shrugs and dismisses it as one of Nendo's occasional bouts of insanity and the general product of his strange thought process.

Waiting for Izuku to leave the area, Nendo lies down with his chest flat on the dirt before crawling away and towards where Komori would be. Once there, Nendo gets into a crouching position as he peeked his head through the hedge, ignoring the tiny branches poking him in the neck and face.

"Hey!" Greeted Nendo, sporting a toothy grin.

After a long, hard day, all Kinoko Komori wants is a nice, relaxing bath and a pillow in which she would likely spend the rest of the evening snoozing on. So, the last thing she expected on her way home was a smiling, crazy-haired face manifesting from the hedgerow. Hopelessly jumped out of her socks, the frightened Komori swings her bag at the face.

"Ow!" Hey...she heard that voice before. "What was that for?!"

"N-Nendo? Oh, I'm so sorry!" Komori profusely apologizes, before squinting her eyebrows. "But...why are you in there?" She expressed her rightful concern, wondering what exactly was he doing, poking his head out of a hedge and smiling like a creep.

"Just waiting to say hi to you! And yeah, that was kinda my fault as well for scaring you." Nendo registered his own faults in the matter that leads up to him getting decked with a bag, before his hands burst out of the hedge as well to try and pull his entire body through. Half a minute of pure physical exertion went by, and the best he could manage is at the waist before getting stuck.

Without much further success in trying to wiggle his way out, Nendo slumped down in defeat. "Well...this is embarrassing." He mused, regarding being trapped by a hedge without any effort from the inanimate piece of scenery. "A little help?" Asked Nendo, extending his hands towards Komori with an awkward smile on his lips.

The mushroom girl lets off a quiet giggle at the comedic turn of events, before hearing his request and instantly pitch in to help, grabbing Nendo by the arms and pulled back with as much force as she could muster.

Either the hedge have been weakened by Nendo's struggle or Komori severely underestimates her own strength, the noirette slips out of it quite easily. A little too easy, perhaps, as Komori fell on her back while Nendo crashes onto her, followed by a shroud of loose leaves and branches covering the two.

Once the confusion clears up, both parties blink and wondering what happened...before they both roll away from each other and stood up to avoid scrutinizing glares from onlookers that might think they are engaging in public intimacy. For that brief moment before they spontaneously part, Nendo was right on top of Komori, his arms propping him up while their faces were barely a thread of hair away from touching. Likewise, she was underneath him, her arms resting on her chest.

"Ahem...sorry about that." Said Nendo curtly, coughing and pretending like nothing happened.

Komori was blushing up a storm under her voluminous hair, but still finds enough of a voice to reply. "I-It's alright. It was an accident."

"Yeah...still, thanks for pulling me out Komori! I'd have been stuck there for the rest of time if not for you." And then, just as abruptly as he switches out of it, Nendo switches right back to his usual mood, unaffected by the awkwardness permeating the air. "But anyway, that's not what I'm here for!"

Out of the blue, Nendo stood right in front of Komori with his hands pressed tightly against the side of his thighs. "Kinoko Komori..." And then, with the most serious expression known to man, he leapt a full meter into the air and prostrates himself on landing, his forehead flat against the asphalt. "You have my most sincere gratitude! Thanks to you, Izuku was saved from a terrible fate! That debt, I promise you, I will find a way to repay it!"

Komori was completely silent in shock at the over-the-top performance he gave off whereas a simple 'thank you' would have doubtless achieved the same effect. However, a tiny part of her thinks that there's a certain charm to such overreaction, like a puppy licking you up when it thinks it accidentally hurt you while cuddling. That, and the fact that should Nendo ever enrolls for drama school, he would have her total support. "Y-You don't have to go that far, Nendo-san! All I did was doing what's right...besides, you called for help." She trails off, tapping her fingers together.

"Eh? What do you mean I don't have to go this far?" Questioned Nendo, lifting his head up at Komori with a genuinely befuddled look. Isn't this the most effective way to convey one's gratitude to others? It was beginning to amaze him that there are other ways to express himself.

"What I'm saying is, you can just say 'thank you' and give a handshake, thumbs up...the likes." She never imagined the day that she would be the one to educate others on common sense and social etiquette, but as the old saying goes, great opportunities don't come everyday. "If you're in the public, might be better to stick to just those."

"Oh...well, I don't think they pack enough of a punch, you know?" Said Nendo, rubbing his neck in thought. To him, saying 'thanks' sounded a bit too...casual. With Komori having saved Izuku, his best and longtime friend, he felt that the need to express his gratefulness in a much more powerful manner.

"They do. Trust me." Komori replied, her wide mouth opening up to reveal a reassuring smile that would, in most cases, unnerve a normal person. Fortunately for her, Nendo isn't one of those cases.

"If you say so!" Nendo hops back up to his full height while mimicking the recognizable jingle one would get from receiving an extra life back when extra lifes were still a common thing in video games. "Do you live around here? We're walking the same street after all."

"Well...my house is over there." Komori pointed her slim finger at a cluster of modestly-sized family homes with a predominantly brown color scheme, positioned opposite to Penny-Filter District and only several houses away from where he currently resides.

"Oh, that's actually pretty close to where I am! Sweet." Said Nendo in an uplifting manner, before he started skipping while humming one of his favorite tunes from Arcane Quest, with this one characterized by a saxophone solo halfway through the melody.

Komori quietly listened to Nendo's humming, walking by his side before her ears perk up in recognition. "Isn't that 'Browse At Your Pleasure'?"

It doesn't take a fraction of a second for Nendo's brain to process what she said before he turns around sharply, eyes lit up and hands shaking. Every single fiber of his being was doing their best to keep Nendo from exploding out of glee in the knowledge at least one other person knew of Arcane Quest. Still, he has to make sure. "You are one hundred percent right! Where did you heard it from?" Then, Nendo held his breath in anticipation. This is the moment of truth.

"I believe that's the theme you get when you go to the shops in Arcane Quest." Komori replied, even though she was rather unnerved by Nendo suddenly sweating bullets and shaking like he was going through a panic episode. "It's a pretty obscure game though."

That does it. He has found a fellow believer. Raising his fists and shaking them, Nendo screamed, overjoyed that his weary quest for a kindred has come to an end. However, remembering what Komori said about acting a bit more restrained in public, Nendo does so mentally instead. "YEEEEES!"

"Is there...something the matter? You sound frustrated." The timid girl asks, mistaking Nendo's forceful and powerful movements as a sign of negative emotions.

Very quickly, he corrects her. "Frustrated? Why would I be frustrated? I'm frickin' elated right now! I can't believe someone other than me and Izu knows about Arcane Quest!" Said Nendo, slightly jumping up and down in excitement.

"Izu?"

"Oh, that's how I call Izuku. The green-haired dude you saved? That's his name."

"Ah." Komori nodded, before turning away from the little sidetrack to resume their main topic. "I mean, I'm not all that big into video games...I only got Arcane Quest as a gift. I gave it a try, and...it's more fun than I imagined. I kept getting stuck on the fight against the, uh, what's his name? Oh, the Lich Priest."

"Cult classic, baby! They never fail to impress." Nendo thought gleefully to himself. Upon hearing of her plight, a section of his brain dedicated solely to the knowledge of everything about Arcane Quest activates. "Oh, the Lich Priest? Yeah, he's pretty annoying with all the health debuffs, but he's weak to Fire attacks, so keep spamming those. Also, if you have the Golden Eagle Talisman, equip that as well."

"The Golden Eagle what now?" A confused Komori raised an eyebrow that is again hidden by her fringe. Because the time she sinks into the game is nowhere as extraordinarily long as Nendo's, she has no knowledge of such item in-game.

"Golden Eagle Talisman! It's a pretty rare drop from the Witch Harpies, but it sometimes show up at the shop too, though it'd probably make half of your wallet disappear. There's a 15% chance it does, but hey, tell you what." Nendo said in a conspiratorial voice, leaning down next to where her ear would be. "If you do see it, just open and exit the shop twenty times in a row, run a half-circle around it and then walk in again. The shopkeeper would get so angry he'd let you take any item for free! Only works once per save file, so you gotta time it."

"Woah. But...isn't that technically cheating?" Komori was, for lack of better words, impressed at how Nendo managed to discover a process as convoluted as that.

"Not cheating! Just...using your knowledge of the game to the max." Nendo quickly defended himself, tapping his temples to show Kinoko his massive brainpower that is required to find out such a pinpoint gap in the game design, even if it is intentional from the developers' part.

"And what does the Talisman give you?"

"Oh, nothing much. It just makes every debuff a fifty-fifty whether they'll affect you or not. Sounds simple, but believe me, it saved my ass against the Lich Priest so many times." Said Nendo as he explains the mechanics of said item to Komori with the same energy and meticulousness as that of a seasoned professor, scrawling on the board for his students. "It doesn't said this anywhere in the game, but the Talisman is actually one of the few items you can infuse with your weapon stats, so you can infuse it to free up space in the inventory."

Komori could only numbly nods her head along the torrent of game trivia being inserted into her head at what feels a thousand lightyears per second, before her bobcut waves around as she shakes and blinks. "...Okay. You seem to know a lot about Arcane Quest, yes?" She spoke up, in an attempt to steer the conversation a bit lest the information overloads her mind.

"You need help with anything Arcane Quest-related, I'm the go-to guy. I've been playing Arcane Quest ever since I can hold a joystick and press buttons!" Nendo wagged his fingers, performing a motion similar to using a controller pad. "It's in my blood! If I ever had kids, they're gonna come out doing magic and casting spells."

Delving on that interesting image Nendo gave her for a second, Komori takes a look at the time on her phone before hastily stuffing it back in her pocket. "Oh, it's getting quite late. I suppose the both of us should head home now. Still...it was fun talking to you again, outside of battle." Said the fungal connoisseur. Then, because of her unusually good mood at the moment, she said something unprecedented to herself. "Maybe you can pass by my place sometimes! We can discuss-"

Nendo was about to reply with a resolute 'sure thing', but stopped once he witness Komori smacking her mouth with an audible slap. "Uh, what's wrong? You were saying about how we can hang by your place."

"I-I don't...I mean, don't mind any of it. Forget everything I just said." Komori sounded oddly apprehensive as she threw her arms up and taking several steps back, shaking her head all the while. "Silly me. 'Hanging out'...that's something reserved only for friends. Sorry for any confusion, Nendo-"

"Aren't we friends already?" Said Nendo, interrupting Komori at the last second. Given the nature of their interactions up until this point, he has more than enough reason to ask such a question.

Komori, on the other hand, was nothing less than absolutely gobsmacked. She finds it hard to believe that anyone with a functional social life would ever pay attention to her, much less wanting to befriend her. Thus, someone as bombastic and enthusiastic as Nendo already considering them friends is a huge thunderbolt striking down the tree of doubt in her heart. "B-But...why would you want to be my friend? I'm sure there's plenty of other people much better to spend time with-"

"I'm gonna stop you right there, Komori. Why wouldn't I want to be your friend? I got all the reasons in the word to do so!" Said Nendo, counting off the potential reasons on the fingers of his left hand. "You're fun to talk to, our Quirks work well with each other, you saved Izu and, as an added bonus, you played Arcane Quest for more than five minutes, since nobody gets to the Lich Priest without putting at least four hours into it. That is, unless you're one of those speedrunners who hacked the game to make their run look 'cool', but I'm sure you're not like that."

Swallowing down a globule of spit in his throat, Nendo inhales with slightly more force than usual before locking eyes with Komori with his hand rising up and extending towards her, very slowly so for extra dramatic effect. "So, since the declaration of friendship isn't official, I'll say this: will you be my friend? I mean if you don't want to, that's fine and all...but in case you do, then..."

Watching his hand firmly waiting for her own to catch it, Komori crossed her legs and rubbed her arm, a red-hot blush spreading across her little face. All Nendo is doing is befriending her, but he makes it sound and feel like he's asking her out. Gazing at the elated, yet childishly happy expression he possesses, Komori felt as if it is physically impossible for her to say no. And so, with little reluctance, she pulled the hair creating a veil over her eyes apart, allowing her warm, brown orbs to match his grey ones. "I will." She finally utters the long-awaited words, taking his hand and shaking it lightly.

Their hands lingered in each other's presence for a little while longer before breaking apart, with Nendo cracking the widest smile he has ever made, to the point that others would say that his smile indicates that he's about to kill someone, though Komori knew better. Walking in silence, the two newly-made friends arrived at an intersection, signifying the end of their shared trip.

"I guess I'll be seeing you at U.A, then?" Nendo asked a rhetorical question, before immediately shrinking after remembering that he basically blundered through the written exam. "If I make it through, that is."

Komori lets off a tiny chuckle as she turns around and leave. "I'm sure you will make it through, Nendo. After all, who came up with the idea of making a tank and cover it with colorful fungi to lure in the robots?" She said, telling his absurd plan in detail to let him know what an idea it was. "Until then, see you later...friend."

And with that, Kinoko waved him goodbye and walk away, her hips swaying slightly side-by-side as she does so. As if imbued with a mind of their own, Nendo's eyes audaciously wander away and stare at her waist, hypnotized by the way they move. However, the ogling would come to a stop after his subconsciousness spawns a brick that promptly decks Nendo over the head with itself.

"Ow!" Cried Nendo, staring accusingly at this brick that he did not order to come into existence before realizing that it was simply reminding him of more important tasks, like actually getting back to Izuku. Wordlessly nodding to the brick, Nendo shook his head and went on his way, with the brick idly floating behind him.

-0-

And that concludes Chapter 3, hope you guys enjoyed this extra-long chapter. Like I said, I was saving the Entrance Exam for this one, and boy isn't it a joy to write this one.

I just want to apologize for the long wait, as I have been dealing with several personal issues. But regardless, I'm all good to go now. I'll admit that I added Kinoko primarily for the reason that her hero name is 'Shemage', and Nendo wants to be a wizard, and...I'm not sure where I'm going with this, but you guys can make the connection.

Other than that, not much else to say. Like always, tell me what you guys think in the reviews, it certainly helps providing me with the incentive to continue writing. More chapters soon, so stay tuned.