AN: Yes I know Nejire's supposed to be in Class 3-A. I invoked writer's fiat and shoved her in Class 2-B for purposes of this story because I didn't want to invent another OC. She'll end up swapping to 3-A for her final year.

The rest of her school year was a whirlwind, and now their final exam was upon them. Class 1-B did not know what to expect when they arrived at the staging area and saw Present Mic and Class 2-B waiting for them.

"Good afternoon listeners! Today's the day for your final exam!"

Kan-sensei followed up. "Now in previous semesters, you have fought alongside your classmates, but this exam will be different, and you will also be partnered up with classmates from a different year."

Present Mic held up a device and brought up a large hologram of one of the training grounds, which began to rotate. "This is going to be a joint mission between first years and second years!" Three red silhouettes appeared on the map, one large angry face and two stick figures. "One of your instructors will be acting as a villain inside the training area, and each of them will also be accompanied by two third year students acting as their henchmen!" He pushed another button, and a bunch of green dots appeared in the buildings, as well as a green zone near the entrance of the area. "In addition, we have imported a whole bunch of training dummies fresh from the USJ!"

Kan took over again. "Each group has two objectives! For the second year students, your primary goal is to capture the villain. For the first year students, your primary goal is to evacuate as many civilians to the safe zone as possible, and keep them safe from any attack - either the henchmen as directed by the villain, or the villain themselves. However! This is a team effort - each team can only pass if both objectives are met."

"So work together!" Present Mic yelled. "While you each have your objectives, that doesn't change the fact that sometimes someone is more suited to the task! For some of these teams, a first year may be more suited to taking down the villain, so will need to work with the second years to complete that goal. Or perhaps a second year student is an aspiring rescue specialist! Recognizing that in the field is an important skill to have!"

Finally, a test against actual live opponents! Himiko understood the use of robots primarily as a tool against first year students - they don't even have their provisional licenses yet, after all. But she still felt handicapped when fighting against robots given her talents.

With anticipation she waited for Present Mic to display the teams for the exam.

Training Ground Beta:

Instructor: Snipe

Third Years: ? ?

Class 2-B:
Nejire Hado

Mirio Togata

Class 1-B:

Himiko Midoriya

Tomoe Sakura

With a confused look she made eye contact with Sakura. Since the school classifies both of them as possessing specialist quirks, instead of combat quirks, they are normally assigned to different teams. They quickly partnered up and went over to the second year students and to find the other half of their team.

"Nice to meet you! I am Mirio Togata, also known as Le Million!"

"And I am Nejire Hado, also known as Nejire." Nejire rushed over to Himiko. "Oh you are so cute! You have cat eyes and fangs! Are your hair buns supposed to complete the cat image?"

Himiko felt herself getting annoyed. "Way to ruin my hairstyle for me." She swatted Nejire's hand away before she could touch her hair. "I am Himiko Midoriya, also known as Carmilla."

Sakura bowed. "And I am Tomoe Sakura, also known as Shadowseer. Let's do our best!"

"So what are your quirks? Nejire and I are considered two of the three strongest students in our year, so we were surprised to find ourselves partnered together."

"So you're not the only two who thought that huh?" Himiko responded. "My quirk is transform! By drinking someone's blood, I can copy them perfectly! Speaking of which, are both of you ok with me drawing some of your blood? That way I can transform into either of you during the test."

"As long as you don't bite me!" Nejire giggled.

"Sure! It's how your quirk works after all. And what is your quirk?" Mirio asked Sakura.

"My quirk is sensory enhancement. I can greatly boost any of my senses to extraordinary levels. I also can temporarily boost a single sense for someone else with physical contact."

"Hmm." Mirio was rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "We know we are going to be facing Snipe, but we don't know who the third years are going to be."

"Since Mirio's quirk puts him at a distinct advantage over Snipe, they have to be really strong." Nejire suggested.

"Especially with my quirk backing him up." Sakura added.

"So that's where Nejire and I come in?" Himiko asked.

"Probably! There's no way they are going to make this simple on us. I can think of a few third years that would counter Nejire or myself, but we won't know until the test actually begins."

The four found their bus and departed for the training ground, brainstorming a variety of plans to deal with the villains. Once on the bus Himiko also pulled out a pair of syringes and with practiced proficiency took a vial of blood from each of them. Himiko took comfort from the fact that neither student seemed bothered when she pulled the vials out of the syringes and drank them.

Once they reached the training ground, they waited with a nervous tension, until they heard Present Mic over the earpieces. "Students, your test begins now!"

The four of them immediately entered the training ground and reached the 'evacuation zone' for the civilians, before Sakura began to enhance her senses to gather information.

"So what can you tell us, Shadowseer?" Mirio asked.

"Nothing!" Sakura sounded tense. "T-there's no sound whatsoever!"

"What?" Himiko exclaimed. "Let me hear!" She grabbed her friend's hand.

Sakura just looked at her and nodded, and Himiko felt the sense of vertigo she always felt when her hearing had to adjust to being influenced by her friend's quirk. And then she noticed it. While all around she could hear various ambient noises, from one central building it was as if the whole thing was just dead. There was no noise whatsoever.

"I guess Silencer is one of our opponents then." Mirio explained. "That makes sense, since he would counter one of our biggest advantages." Seeing the confused expressions the others were making, he quickly explained. "Silencer's quirk is to create a zone of absolute silence. No sound will travel in or out of the zone. If you're not used to it, it actually is super disorienting and can mess with your sense of balance. I wouldn't be surprised if his classmates have trained to fight alongside him, though!"

"I don't know if my helmet will be enough to counter that." Sakura admitted. "It's designed to work when there's too much noise, not when there is no noise."

"I should be ok." Mirio offered. "Part of Permeation means that I don't actually hear anything when my quirk is active, so I had to get used to fighting without sound. Or anything, really!"

"Still, from what you are describing, Silencer being paired with Snipe is bad news for us." Sakura continued. "Which makes sense, that our opponents would be tailored to account for the combination of quirks our team has."

"So our first priority is taking out Silencer then." Himiko said. "Not only will he mess us up, but we lose our advantage of knowing where they are."

"It does seem that way. There is also the fact that we don't know who the second 3rd year student is. They will also be a problem."

"At this point they are pro-heroes in all but name, so whomever it is it's going to be tough."

"Do we even want to go after them while they're holed up in the building? Le Million would be fighting three on one if we did that!" Himiko asked.

"I think we should begin to evacuate the civilians first." Nejire said. "Right now we don't know what the villain is going to do, but we do know they aren't moving - and Shadowseer-chan can tell us if they do move, right?"

"Yes, it is very easy to track the area of Silencer's quirk."

"Then as long as they remain inside the one building, we have control of the battlefield - and there are civilians waiting to be rescued. I say we take this opportunity to complete that objective."

Everyone agreed and the group split up. Sakura went with Nejire while Himiko went with Le Million to find the training dummies and return them to the extraction zone.

They had managed to recover about half of the 'civilians' before Sakura spoke up. "There's movement! Silencer is on the move towards the extraction site, hiding one person. The last person is staying behind - I can hear someone in the building still.

"Alright, Shadowseer guide me to where Silencer is, I'll take him on." Mirio called over the radio.

To enact this part of their plan, Himiko and Mirio found a quiet corner where Himiko removed her coat and boots, and then transformed into Mirio. Then the two Mirios left together, with the real one moving to engage Silencer. Himiko, meanwhile, began to make her way to the central building where she was supposed to meet up with Nejire. While the villain team wouldn't be able to coordinate over radio, they still had the unknown of the second third year student, so they had to keep the villains guessing as well.

Himiko saw Nejire in the air moving to meet up, but before she could land she started dodging back and forth. "Snipe is still in the central building! I can't stay out in the open like this."

"Keep him distracted!" Himiko called over the radio. "I am going to try to make it inside the building."

Himiko watched as Nejire landed on a rooftop and used that as cover while trying to fight back with her own wave motion blasts. Taking the opportunity, she ran across the training ground, only to hear a shot ring out. She barely made it behind a wall in time.

"Crap! He knows I'm not Mirio!"

"What do we do?" Nejire asked through the radio.

As if on cue, a few moments later they heard a burst of static on the radio, and suddenly could hear Mirio. "Silencer is down! But we have another problem. His partner is Rebound!"

"Who's that?" Sakura quickly asked over the radio.

"His quirk lets him deflect any force applied to him! I can't land a punch!"

Himiko looked up at Nejire's position. "Nejire, think we can swap with Le Million?"

"That's a good call! Get over here and I'll handle Snipe!"

"Carmilla, get behind your current building and I'll pick you up."

Himiko fell back and found Nejire landing. Nejire merely nodded to her and held out her arms. Himiko hopped into them and let herself be carried, bridal-style, to where Mirio was currently fighting Rebound to a stalemate. Mirio's Permeation meant that Rebound couldn't land a solid hit, while Rebound was causing all of Mirio's punches and jabs to bounce off harmlessly.

"Le Million, we've got this. Go handle Snipe!" Nejire calls out as she lands.

Himiko slipped out of her arms onto the ground. "I'm going to see if his quirk makes him immune to being stabbed."

Pulling out her knives, Himiko quickly dashed into the fray while Nejire moved to intercept Rebound and prevent him from chasing Mirio. The two women managed to pin Rebound between them, and discovered the same thing Mirio had - Nejire's wave motion blasts bounced harmlessly into the sky, and Himiko felt like the blades of her knives were just bouncing off of him.

"Sorry, those won't work either!" He called out confidently. "The harder you attack me, the more my quirk will repel you!"

The gears in Himiko's brain began to turn. His quirk repels with force equal to that applied. So I might be able to grapple him. Or… that's it!

"Nejire, grab him!" Himiko shouted.

"On it, Carmilla!"

Nejire managed to grab Rebound and was currently trying to hold him. That gave Himiko the opening she needed. Rushing up behind Rebound, she jumped onto his back. Even with the two of them, she wasn't sure if they would be able to subdue him fast enough. But Himiko had another idea in mind. She drew her knife and very gently placed it on Rebound's shoulder. Finding that he wasn't able to repel it, she began to slide it downward with just enough force to break skin.

Rebound screamed as her idea had the intended effect, and with a sudden surge of adrenaline managed to shove Nejire back and throw Himiko off of him. She landed on the ground several feet away, but she did what she was hoping to do - he was now bleeding from a large gash on his shoulder.

"That hurt!"

"Sorry not sorry!" She flashed him a grin as she pushed herself up. "Next time don't tell me how your quirk works!" Retrieving her knife she once again walked forward.

Facing the prospect of having to deal with another tag team attack, Rebound raised his hands in defeat. "I surrender!"

"Aww, I wanted to see how many more cuts I could make!" Himiko visibly pouted.

This caused Nejire to laugh. "Carmilla, you are so weird!"

"That's rich, coming from you!" Despite the comment, Himiko still found herself beaming.

"I was impressed you figured out my quirk so quickly." Rebound said as he allowed himself to be cuffed by Nejire.

"I have two people in my life who do quirk analysis 'for fun'" Himiko made sure to use air quotes when she emphasized the fun part. "I may have picked up a few things over the past year, so when you described your quirk I figured it out."

"Not many people are willing to try grappling moves on me." Rebound admits.

Suddenly Present Mic cut in over their radios. "Team Hado and Togata have successfully subdued all of the villains, they are the first team to do so!"

Nejire and Himiko held an unconscious Silencer between the two of them as they guided Rebound back to the entrance, where Sakura was waiting for them. Soon afterwards, they were joined by Mirio guiding Snipe.

"We can't celebrate just yet! First we have to save the rest of those civilians and finish this test!" Mirio called out as he was walking up.

"On it!" The others agreed, and once again scattered to finish their final objective.

No longer having to worry about the villains and being guided by Sakura, they were able to quickly gather up the rest of the civilian dummies, only to once again hear Present Mic call out over the headset. "Team Hado and Togata are the first ones to pass the test!"

After uncuffing the other three, the six students and instructor all boarded the bus and returned to the staging area, listening for their friend's teams as Present Mic called out each of the 10 teams passing the exam. The third years were both caught up talking to Snipe, while Nejire and Sakura had struck up a conversation on the way back, leaving Himiko to talk to Mirio.

"I was meaning to ask, but who is into quirk analysis?" Mirio asked her.

"The first is Emily - she's another of our classmates. Both of her parents are researchers at a support company and she apparently picked it up from them, even if she herself is in the hero course. The second is my younger brother Izu. I mean Izuku. He's just a genius."

"Oh! I didn't realize you had a younger brother. Is he planning on becoming an analyst or something?"

Himiko shook her head. "Nope! He's actually going to be among the first years in next year's hero course! He um. He is an extremely late bloomer with his quirk, to the point we thought he was going to have to take the entrance exam quirkless? He was developing his analysis as a way to compensate for that."

"Oh wow, that's late! That is super cool though!"

"Yeah…" Himiko frowned. "But since I also fight essentially quirkless, I have picked up a few things along the way."

"Hence the knives?"

"Yep!"

"I'm impressed! Izuku Midoriya huh. I'll have to keep an eye out for him."

The bus returned to the staging area where the seven got out. Snipe and the third years departed to the building where Present Mic and Kan-Sensei were watching the exams and they continued chatting until other buses began pulling in, dropping off other groups. Eventually Nejire and Mirio left when their friends came back, leaving Himiko and Sakura waiting for their own friends to return.

"What took you so long? It wouldn't have done well for one of our recommended students to actually fail her final exam!" Himiko called when Emily returned, seeing as she was part of the 9th group to finish.

"Ugh! We got Eraserhead and one of the top three third years! It was brutal." Emily visibly shuddered as she remembered the experience. "But we did it! That's what matters, right?"

"Yep! We're all moving on!" Hideo cheered. "The gang's staying together!"

As they were packing up for the final time as first years, Himiko found herself hanging back. Once most of the class had left she approached her teacher and bowed.

"Kan-sensei, thank you for everything you have taught me!"

Kan merely laughed. "Don't sound so sad, you're acting like you will never see me again!"

Himiko crossed her arms and looked away, a blush rising to her cheeks. "Yeah well, this is the last time you'll be my teacher! I'll miss it. And I'll miss our weekend lessons."

Kan gently put an arm on her shoulder "It was my pleasure, little Midoriya. And just because I don't have anything more to teach you about heroics doesn't mean you won't see me again."

She turned to look at him. "Really?"

"I'll still be teaching here, after all! If you want to talk about anything you can always track me down around the school."

"I will take you up on that."

"I hope you do! I would be sad if my favorite student just abandons me because I am done personally teaching her."

Himiko found a smile forming. "Thanks! I promise I won't forget you! You've done so much for me!"

Kan smiled back. "You are growing into a fine young hero. You've come so far from when I first saw you. And I'm proud to have been a part of that."

"N-now you're going to make me cry!" Himiko pulled Kan into a surprise hug.

"I'll see you next semester, little Midoriya." Once he recovered Kan returned the hug.

"Y-yep! See you then!"

"Itadakimasu!"

To celebrate completing the first year of school, Himiko and her friends decided to go out for dinner. Since Himiko won the argument of where to go, they were currently at her favorite all you can eat barbeque.

"It's unfair how little you need to cook that, you can eat so much faster than us!" Hideo complained as Himiko was already pulling her beef and pork off of the grill.

Himiko just grinned, baring her fangs as she ate the first piece of beef. "My quirk has enough drawbacks, I've got to enjoy the benefits!"

"Related to that - don't ever let her pick a movie to watch, by the way."

"Why's that?"

"Himi absolutely loves slasher movies, but for all the wrong reasons."

"I can't help it, they are so funny to me!" Himiko defended herself.

"It really ruins the effect when we are trying to let ourselves be scared by what is happening, only to hear Himiko giggling at the movie."

Himiko visibly pouts. "Well next time we'll watch a Rom-Com then!"

Atsuko smiled and looked at her friends. "I'm all for that."

"Of course you would be, you created a monster!"

"They are great, it's not my fault that Himi has good taste."

"I've already accepted my fate." Hideo spoke up as he looked at Atsuko.

Atsuko stuck her tongue out at him. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Speaking of you two, when are you finally going on your first date?" Himiko asked.

Atsuko brightened. "Next week! With how close White Day was to finals, we decided to wait until school was out before we had it."

"Couldn't you have asked her out, you know, earlier?" Emily asked Hideo. "Instead of waiting until White Day?"

Hideo merely smiled and shrugged. "It worked, didn't it?"

"Some of us like cheesy romantic gestures." Atsuko added, before faking a gasp. "Wait, or are you upset that nobody got you anything for White Day?"

"Not at all!" Emily said too quickly, her cheeks turning pink.

"So there is someone you like then?" Sakura asked pointedly.

"I bet she has a thing for Izuku." Hideo said. "Those two bouncing off of each other is something else."

"Yes Emily, what is your opinion on Izu?" Himiko put down her chopsticks and was staring daggers at her friend.

Emily meanwhile was blushing up a storm. "Eww! Gross! Izuku's like little brother material at best!"

"Good!" Satisfied with the answer, Himiko picked up her chopsticks and returned to her meal.

"There is someone, but I'm pretty sure they don't like me back." Emily admitted quietly, staring down at her plate.

"You never know unless you try, right?" Atsuko tried to encourage her.

"What about you Tomoe?" Emily asked, trying to shift the conversation off of her.

"None of you, if that's what you're asking."

The table broke out into laughter.

"You all are great friends and have helped me grow a lot, but you all have an energy that would be too much for me. I'd like to find someone who is more quiet and reserved."

"You are all about the quiet romantic evenings, huh?"

Sakura smiled fondly at that. "That does sound lovely, yes. Two people, warm tea, and a good book."

"That does sound nice, especially after a day of heroics." Atsuko admitted, before turning to Himiko. "Ok, Himi, your turn. What about you?"

"Of course I've thought about it! I just haven't found anyone yet." Himiko admitted, feeling a blush creeping into her cheeks. "Between hanging out with you guys, my lessons with Kan-sensei, and helping Izu out I just haven't had the time." She shrugged helplessly. "Maybe next year? Kan's already said I need to broaden my horizons and Izu's going to have a whole school to bother."

"Well, what would you be looking for?" Emily asked, curious.

"In another life, I may actually have fallen for Izu." Himiko admitted, hiding the lower half of her face in her hands as the blush continued to spread across her cheeks. "He accepted me for who I was, even at my lowest. I know I'm not exactly the easiest person to get along with, but I just want someone like that - someone who likes me for who I am."

"I'm sure there is someone out there like that. We like you just the way you are, after all." Sakura said, but Himiko was too busy staring down to miss the meaningful glance she gave across the table.

"Yeah!" Himiko finally looked up after getting her blushing under control, a smile breaking out across her face. "I'm sure of it! I just have to find them."

The group continued talking and enjoying their meal until their designated time was up. Once outside, they said their goodbyes and went their separate ways for the evening.

As she was heading home she heard someone calling out to her "Carmilla!"

Pausing, Himiko turned and saw a lady jogging up to her. She was wearing a sweater with its hood up and different glasses, but the same feeling that she felt during her internship came back to her. She mentally set herself on edge, and began eyeing escape routes. There were still some crowds around, so she hoped this person wasn't going to try anything, but she was still worried about being attacked.

"Yep, that's me." Himiko forced a fake smile on her face. "Pro-hero in training!"

"I know, I'm a big fan!" As the woman stopped in front of Himiko she noticed the same two-toned hair hiding behind the hood. She was then caught off guard when she saw the woman grab her glasses and raise them, revealing purple eyes and a stare that somehow felt even more intense as she studied Himiko's face. "I've been watching you with great interest."

Himiko swallowed a lump in her throat. "I-I'm flattered. Any particular reason?"

The lady seemed satisfied with what she saw, her face suddenly softening as a smile spread across it. "Your quirk is amazing! I hope you do great things with it! Just - remember what's important about being a hero, ok?"

Himiko tried to respond but the woman seemed to not be listening anymore as she lowered her glasses and checked her watch. She threw Himiko one last smile before she quickly walked away, only to turn around and give one last wave before disappearing into a crowd.

Himiko could only look down the street in confusion.

"What was that about?"

Izuku was sitting in the living room with Himiko and Emily, his notebook open to his concept art and ideas for his costume. His costume order for school was due soon, and he was trying to finalize it, while the other two were talking about ideas to improve their own hero costumes.

"At least you got rid of the silly All Might mask design." Himiko said.

"It made sense to younger me!" Izuku tried to defend himself.

"Just like all of those hero names huh?"

Izuku felt his face turning bright red as he remembered them. "T-Thats not important right now! After seeing Sakura and Atsuko's costumes, swapping from a cloth mask and rebreather to a full helmet makes sense."

"Are you going to try and cram a bunch of equipment in there like Tomoe though?" Emily asked, as she scrolled through a massive catalog of support gear on her tablet.

Izuku shook his head. "No, I think the communication equipment will be helpful, and the full environment filters to start. Since I'm going to be on the front lines most of the time I'm not sure how much I'd really use anything else?"

"Makes sense." Emily paused and wrote down some notes for herself.

"Also, why a green jumpsuit?" Himiko asked her brother.

Izuku was giving Himiko a funny look. He then pointed to his hair. "You know our last name is Midoriya right?"

Himiko looked like she was having a moment of revelation as her eyes darted from Izuku to Inko. From where she was sitting, she leaned over to look into a mirror, her messy ash-blonde hair a stark contrast to the rest of her family's hair color. She immediately spun around to face Inko. "Mom, can I get my hair dyed green to match you two?"

Inko had to stifle a laugh and just gave her daughter a warm smile. "Now that Izu has pointed it out, you want to match? You can do that. We just have to find a good shade of green that fits you."

Izuku looked up and saw a slight blush on Emily's face as she was gawking at Himiko. A ghost of a smile crawled on his face as he looked at his sister. "So, about that green color?"

Himiko spun back to the table and crossed her arms in a huff. "Fine, you win! You can have your green jumpsuit."

Izuku opened up the paper catalog provided to him and flipped to the materials section, trying to find a good material that was fireproof and had decent thermal regulation properties. He eventually opted for a form-fitting bodysuit to help regulate his temperature and then the outer jumpsuit with a fireproof material. It wasn't going to absorb any blows for him, but with his reaction time using One For All going up, he was hoping to use his quirk for that anyways.

Finally, Izuku grabbed the sheet of paper from the center and began selecting equipment for his own utility belt. Over the past year Himiko's friend group - driven mostly by Emily and Sakura - began to write up a list of standardized support tools for the five of them to use. Since Izuku basically had free reign to order equipment, he didn't see any reason to reinvent the wheel and ordered the supplies that made the most sense for him.

He looked up to see his sister had stolen Emily's tablet and the two were now browsing hair dyes, their own costume request forms forgotten, and found himself smiling.

It was going to be a good year, he could feel it.

AN: A few quick notes about Izuku's future costume - he's completely skipping the homemade Alpha costume and moving directly to his Beta costume, with the obvious significant change being his rebreather and hood are being replaced by a black-and-green motorcycle helmet with a transparent front, and he now has a functional utility belt. He also subconsciously chose his costume's materials to be explosion-resistant for some reason.

And pulling back the curtain slightly about the timeline of this story - after the fairly packed first semester I'm going to be slowing things down. The first year is only going to cover through the Shie Hassaikai / School Festival arcs, plus some of Himiko's personal story arc, with many apologies to Eri because she doesn't deserve being stuck with Overhaul for several more months :(

Also more silly AU!Himiko headcanon - she has an extensive movie collection, mostly filled with rom-coms (introduced to her by her middle school friends) and slasher flicks. Due to her quirk, all of the blood present in movies is obviously fake to her, giving them a quality that we normally see in very low budget / old films. Of course, for slasher movies in particular, she finds this hilarious. And to the outside observer, seeing her giggling in the middle of slasher films comes across anywhere from annoying to disturbing.