This episode started right where the last one had left off, with the buildings being destroyed in preparation for the rescue exercises. There was a brief moment of confusion when Mera said they would be acting as though they were bystanders during this and both Mineta and Kaminari got the term wrong. Hagakure and Momo were quick to explain it to them.

"Seriously? 'Bystander' isn't that big of a vocabulary word." Jirou said.

"Hey, we just got done with a big test and now a bunch of new stuff is being thrown at us, my brain is still catching up." Kaminari defended.

Mineta just ducked his head in embarrassment. He prided himself on his good grades, and couldn't believe he'd just interpreted 'bystander' as 'byslider'.

"Things can change very quickly in the field. You'll want to work on adjusting to new developments." Aizawa said.

As Midoriya watched and listened to the explanation, he remembered the video of All Might's debut, then the aftermath of the fight with AfO in Kamino. He said 'rescue' under his breath.

Izuku knew exactly what his other self must be feeling. He'd wanted to be a hero, to save people, ever since he saw that video of All Might's debut. He didn't want to be known as strictly a rescue hero, but the rescuing part of hero work was what had really drawn him in from the start. His heart beat faster at the idea of finally getting to delve into it, both from eagerness and fear. He hoped that their lack of rescue training wouldn't stop them from passing here.

All Might felt strange, melancholic perhaps, seeing his debut placed back to back with the fight that forced him to retire. He decided not to think about it too much and instead focus on young Midoriya. "Good luck, my boy."

"Thank you! I'm sure I'll do my best!"

Shoji noticed that there were people among the rubble, much to his classmates' dismay. Mera explained that they were people from the Help Us Company (HUC), who were trained to play injured civilians in scenarios like this. Tsuyu marveled at the wide range of jobs out there, and Ojiro pointed out that it's the kind of job that hero society brought about.

"I see. It's fascinating to think about how much of our society has been shaped by the existence and popularity of pro hero work." Momo said. Ojiro nodded.

"Definitely, and this is just one of the jobs that pro heroes brought about."

Recovery Girl hoped the kids were ready for this. They were behind in the rescue training and, in her experience, the people from HUC could be pretty harsh graders.

Mera explained that the people from HUC were the ones they would be rescuing. Their points would be based off the rescues they did, and if you had enough points by the end, then you would pass. They would start in ten minutes, so he told everyone to get ready.

The students made sure to pay attention to the explanation. They wanted to be able to tell if their other selves were doing well after all.

"I wonder how the points are going to be awarded. Does everyone involved in a rescue get a certain amount of points, or does playing a bigger or smaller role change the amount of points you get..." Izuku muttered. A part of his mind was also turning over the idea of the HUC, and wondering why he'd never thought to try and get involved with them when he was younger. There seemed to be some kids among the crowd, and it would have gotten him some early experience.

Iida approached Midoriya, and the two of them talked about the possibility that this set was based off of the aftermath of the fight in Kamino. Iida said that they'd been focused on getting Bakugo to safety and staying out of the way of the pros, but that there had been a lot of casualties. Midoriya gave the screen a determined look and said "Let's do our best."

Midoriya was wearing a pretty similar look right now, and Iida nodded seriously. "Yes, I am sure we will. I'm sure we all will."

No one disagreed with him. They'd all seen the aftermath of that fight. Their other selves had probably seen more, it would have been covered on the news for hours on end, but they'd seen enough. If something like that ever happened in their own timeline, they wanted to know how to help.

Bakugo felt guilt coil through him before he shoved it back down again.

While everyone was preparing for the next part of the exam, Sero went over to talk with Kaminari and Mineta. He said he had something to share with them. Mineta asked for the rating, and he said R-18, which got Mineta's attention. Then he told them how he'd seen Camie naked with Midoriya. Kaminari and Mineta immediately barreled over and started accusing Midoriya of fooling around while they were working hard to pass.

"It wasn't like that!" Izuku defended, his voice rising in pitch.

"Yeah, he's not the one that made it weird!" Uraraka jumped in.

"Well of course WE know that, we saw the whole thing, but the other us doesn't know that!" Mineta sounded almost as defensive as Midoriya did.

"Well maybe you would if you'd kept listening instead of freaking out." Jirou pointed out snidely.

"It is very unfair to assume Midoriya's actions and intentions based off of second hand information." Momo added.

"Geez, if I'd known you guys were gonna go do that I wouldn't have told you." Sero grimaced "Though, now that I think about it, I probably shouldn't have said anything at all." At least not until after the test. He liked to gossip sometimes, but he didn't want to cause a big scene before something so important.

Camie was shown to be watching them, which made them all freeze. She looked confused for a moment, then she smiled and waved. Mineta freaked out, saying that was a secret greeting men and women shared after a certain point in a relationship. As the pair yelled more, Midoriya realized Sero must have told them.

At this point, even those that had been amused by the over-the-top reaction turned to give Mineta confused looks.

"That's a secret message?" Todoroki asked.

"No, Mineta is just being weird." Tsuyu said.

"I agree, a smile and a wave seems like a perfectly ordinary greeting." Iida said.

"Well, yeah, a normal smile maybe, but that looks way too smug for a normal smile!" Kaminari said.

"Yeah, it's not that weird we'd think that!" Mineta agreed quickly, then he paused for a moment and looked unsure. "Right?"

"I guess it is a little different from a normal, friendly smile, but that's probably because she could hear what you were yelling about thought it was funny." Ojiro pointed out.

Aizawa wasn't sure if he should feel relieved that his students retained the ability to be this ridiculous despite everything they'd been through, or be concerned about their priorities.

"Sorry, Midoriya." Sero apologized sincerely.

Izuku waved it off, not wanting to drag this out any further, but did ask that Sero try to avoid doing this in the future, which he easily agreed to.

Midoriya tried to calm the boys down, and explained that her being naked was an affect of her quirk. He even admitted that it had been scary because he didn't know what was going on. Kaminari didn't seem to care, saying that Midoriya still saw her naked. Mineta pointed out that Camie was still waving and demanded to know how far the two of them went. Uraraka was shown to be watching from the side, looking somewhat concerned.

Izuku groaned and buried his face in his hands.

Jirou glared at Mineta and Kaminari. "You two really aren't listening at all are you? He just said it was scary and you ask how far they went? Do you even hear yourselves?"

"That is a highly inappropriate reaction to have when hearing that a classmate experienced an unwanted advance from a stranger!" Iida chopped his hand through the air for emphasis.

Mineta and Kaminari both ducked their heads at that. When you put it like that, they were both being pretty big jerks about this weren't they?

"Sorry, Midoriya. We really shouldn't have assumed what was going on." Kaminari admitted.

"Yeah, sorry about the interrogation, and everything else." Mineta added.

Similar to what he did with Sero, Midoriya tried to settle it quickly and get everyone to move on.

"Sorry I didn't go over and try to help you." Uraraka said, as everyone seemed to settle back down. "You can handle yourself of course, but I was there with Sero too, so I feel like I should have spoken up."

"It's okay, even my other self seemed pretty confused by the whole thing, so you probably just didn't want to step in when you weren't sure what was going on."

Midoriya was saved from further interrogation by the students from Shiketsu approaching their group. The guy covered in hair asked Bakugo and Kirishima if they'd seen Seiji, and Bakugo told him he'd knocked Seiji out. The hairy Shiketsu student said he suspected that, then apologized for Seiji, saying the boy had a tendency to force his ideals onto others. He said he wanted to build a good relationship with UA, which Midoriya and Mineta seemed to have a hard time believing.

"Yeah, ambushing us throughout the entire first portion doesn't seem like a great way to make friends." Hagakure said.

"To be fair, Shiketsu wasn't the only school participating in that." Ojiro pointed out. "And I think that him being willing to come and apologize says a lot, you know?"

"That's a good point, especially since no one asked him to or anything." she admitted.

"He wasn't even mad about us beating his classmate." Kirishima said.

"It could be a ruse to get us to let our guards down." Tokoyami countered.

"Like the other kids did at the beginning?" Koda asked, and Tokoyami nodded.

The students frowned at the screen, or looked at the Shiketsu students with narrowed eyes. The looks weren't hostile, but they were definitely suspicious.

"I'm starting to worry that these kids have gotten burned too many times already." Mic whispered to Aizawa.

Aizawa frowned, then said "Keep in mind that in the field you may have to work with heroes you don't personally get along with. You don't have to like everyone, but you do have to be willing to work with them, which is probably what the Shiketsu students are trying to do."

That reminder resulted in the suspicious looks being toned down, but it didn't get rid of them completely.

Todoroki was shown to be standing off to the side, thinking about the phrase 'good relationship'. He remembered how Inasa had glared at him, so he called out to the boy before he could leave. He asked Inasa if he'd done something to him, and the other boy looked down on him scornfully. He apologized to 'the son of Endeavor', but said that he hated guys like him. He said that, even though Todoroki had improved, that he still had Endeavor's eyes. When the other Shiketsu students called to Inasa, he immediately went back to his chipper self.

Mineta shivered. "He switched back so quickly."

"That is kinda creepy." Sero admitted.

Todoroki suddenly felt like he had a vice around his chest.

'The kids are starting to look more and more like him...' 'Your left eye is unsightly.'

Todoroki shook his head. His other self was getting better. He'd reconnected with his mother, and started using his fire, and had already saved his friends with it.

And yet, people still looked at him and saw Endeavor.

"Todoroki."

He turned to look at Yoayorozu. She opened her mouth, then seemed to think better of it and reached out a hand instead. He put it on his shoulder, then looked at him, as if asking if that was okay. He nodded slightly. When he turned back forward, he also noticed that Midoriya was giving him a concerned look. Midoriya raised his eyebrows, as if silently asking if he was okay, and Todoroki nodded. Midoriya hesitated for a moment, then nodded back at him and turned back to the screen.

"That was pretty rude." Ashido crossed her arms. "He didn't even answer the question!"

"Yeah, now we don't know if he actually has a problem with Todoroki or just with Endeavor." Sato agreed.

Midoriya frowned. Inasa had said that Todoroki had improved, but he didn't say how. So it was hard to tell if he was referring to something that happened during the recommendations exam, or the Sports Festival, or something else.

Midoriya started to talk to Todoroki, but got startled and interrupted by Camie saying 'see ya' right behind him. He stammered a one word reply, which got Mineta and Kaminari on his case again, and then Momo scolded the two boys for acting disgraceful.

Both Mineta and Kaminari groaned at their other selves. Looking at it now, it was really easy to see that, while Camie seemed to be playing up the flirting, Midoriya was just being his normal, anxious self.

"Sorry, again."

"Yeah, sorry about that."

"It's okay, you guys don't have to apologize twice, I know you meant it the first time." Izuku was quick to reassure. He turned away from them to look at Todoroki. "I am sorry I didn't talk to you then though." Midoriya knew that, in this timeline, he was the only one in their class who knew what had happened with Todoroki's mother, so he'd be the only one who would know just how much those words would have hurt him.

"It's not your fault." Todoroki said. "And I do appreciate that you thought to try."

"Of course! You're my friend, I'd want to know if you were okay."

Todoroki was most definitely not feeling okay, but after Yoayorozu and Midoriya both reached out to him, he didn't feel quite as bad as before. He was keenly aware that his other self didn't have those reassurances though.

As Camie walked away, Uraraka stared after her. Uraraka thought 'I don't like this', and wondered why she felt so stirred up. She looked at Deku, and started to say his name, but was interrupted by the bell that signaled the next part of the test.

"Nooooo!" Ashido whined. Why did that stupid bell have to start up just as the two were about to talk? That could have lead to a key development in their relationship!

Uraraka was both frustrated and relieved. She wasn't quite sure what her other self would say, and that was the problem. Maybe hearing that conversation would help her make sense of her own feelings, but it could have left her embarrassed in front of the whole class again too...

"Um, we could talk about it during the break, if you want." Deku offered. She nodded slowly.

"That's probably a good idea."

"Hm, personal issues being brought up right before an important test. That will certainly make things more difficult." Recovery Girl noted.

Aizawa frowned, but nodded in agreement. He thought Uraraka would be fine, the show seemed to imply she was doing well in her classes despite struggling with her feelings for a while. He was more worried about Todoroki. His other self had clearly been working on himself, but that interaction with Inasa could bring back a lot of painful things. He knew well just how badly the wrong words at the wrong time could mess you up.

"Well, being able to put aside your own problems during a crisis is an important part of hero work. I guess we're about to see if the kids can do that yet." Mic said.

The staff started to explain the scenario behind the rescue portion of the test. A terrorist attack damaged a lot of buildings, leaving people trapped and injured. The damaged roads were delaying the rescue teams, so the participants would have to start rescue operations before they arrived. As this was explained, the anteroom opened up just like the first waiting area, which a student even commented on. The students were told to rescue as many lives as they could.

The kids watched the screen carefully, anxious to know if their other selves would figure out how to beat this next challenge.

Recovery Girl once again felt vindicated for her feelings about the testing area being excessive.

The exam started, and the participants ran forward. Various thoughts were heard. Some thought about how saving others was the greatest job of being a hero, while others thought about how the scoring explanation had been vague and that they'd just have to do their best with what they knew.

Izuku nodded along eagerly with the thoughts about saving others. Bakugo's feelings were more complicated. He knew saving others was a huge deal, but his interactions with civilians hadn't gone well so far, and he always felt more comfortable when there was an enemy to fight.

The teachers couldn't help feeling nervous as they remembered that their own students didn't have as much training to go off of when it came to rescue, especially compared to those from other schools.

Iida's voice directed the class to move towards the closest urban area and to work as a team. Ashido noticed Bakugo running alongside her, and he was demanding to know why Kirishima and Kaminari were following him. They said they just felt like it.

"Awww, don't be like that Bakubro! How can you deny our bond after that last fight?" Kaminari teased.

"I said don't call me that!" Bakugo barked.

"Seriously though, we probably do feel safer around you and each other after that fight with Seiji. Plus teamwork will be even more important now, and we already know we work well together." Kirishima pointed out.

Bakugo didn't protest this logic, which Kirishima counted as a win. Truth be told, Bakugo was a little distracted thinking about how he'd actually been kind of pleased when he saw his other self being followed by those two.

"Oh! I should get another notebook, this will open up a whole new subject to think about!" Izuku said, quickly switching out his current notebook with one that he'd pulled from under the couch.

'When did he put that there?' Uraraka wondered. Aloud she asked "What do you mean?"

"We've mainly seen our other selves fighting, either villains or each other, but we haven't seen much rescue stuff. This could open up a whole new avenue for potential team ups and useful techniques!"

Mera asked the contestants to do this part quickly too. Aizawa was shown watching in the stands once again. Tsuyu commented on how crazy this was for an exercise, and Ojiro warned people to look out for falling debris.

A part of Recovery Girl wanted to scold Mera for only thinking of himself once again while doing this, but thought better of it. Rescue operations could be very time sensitive after all, and some civilians could die if they didn't get help fast enough. So learning to do rescue quickly, but carefully, would actually be a good thing for these students to learn.

"You know, when I first came to UA, I thought it's crazy exercises were a part of the whole 'plus ultra' motto. Now I wonder if they picked it up from the HPSC." Tsuyu said.

"Or perhaps they picked it up from us?" Nedzu teased.

"Good thinking young Ojiro! It's important to look out for yourselves and you teammates when doing rescue missions, so you don't end up becoming the one in need of rescuing." All Might said.

Aizawa nodded. "Another good reason to up your situational awareness."

Ojiro smiled, pleased by the praise.

Midoriya suddenly stopped running, saying her heard a child's voice. The screen shifted to show a bloodied child who was sitting on the ground as he cried that his grandpa got crushed. Midoriya was the first to approach, saying that this was bad and asking where the grandpa was. Suddenly, all crying ceased as the child scolded him for not first trying to ascertain how hurt he himself was. The whole class looked on in shock as he told them they should know the steps better if they were trying to get their licenses. Midoriya realized that the HUC members themselves would be the graders.

"And this is exactly what I was worried about." Recovery Girl said. She looked at Aizawa. "Now will you admit that they should have gotten more rescue training instead of just ultimate move training?"

"There's still plenty of time left in the test, they can recover from this misstep." Aizawa replied. Then, after a moment of thought, he added "But I will promise to try and balance out the training more in the future, especially if rescue training gets interrupted in our own timeline too." He hoped that the students wouldn't have to try and get licenses this early in their own time, but better safe than sorry.

"That will do I suppose."

Midoriya, along with many other students, were now worried that the rescue exercise may be more complicated than they had first thought. Iida hoped that he'd picked up enough from his brother's stories to make a decent showing here. Todoroki had no such hopes for his own hero relations, as Endeavor wasn't exactly known for his rescue efforts.

Students from other schools were showing their training here. One boy proclaimed he would rope off an area as a danger zone. With the Shiketsu students, the hairy boy, now introduced as Nagamasa Mora, used his quirk to create a helicopter landing area. The Ketsubutsu students were shown: Shindo started to set up a first aid station and another student volunteered to be in charge of triage.

"Oh man, I wouldn't have thought to do any of that." Sato said worriedly. Sero matched his expression.

"Me neither. I don't really know anything about first aid or triage."

"Um, what exactly does triage mean?" Kaminari asked.

Iida and Momo gave a rundown of what it meant and which injuries were considered priority while Izuku tried to write down as much as he could about what steps the other students were taking as well as write down what he'd seen of Nagamasa's quirk.

While they were doing that, Recovery Girl sent Aizawa a scathing look. The man hid in his scarf, but now finally admitted fully that Recovery Girl had had a point about his teaching.

"Hmm, you know, it's a good thing you brought up getting assistants. After all, if we hire more medical staff, then we might be able to get them involved in class rescue training. Perhaps one or more of them could even teach a dedicated first aid and triage class." Nedzu said.

"That is a wonderful idea. I fully endorse it!" Recovery Girl looked much happier now, much to Aizawa's relief.

On screen, Aizawa admitted to Ms Joke that experience really counted when it came to rescuing people.

This also helped assuage Recovery Girl's ire.

Back with 1A, the HUC member was still lecturing them about their role in rescue operations, and how they needed to act until the official rescue workers got there. He specifically called out Midoriya's word choice, saying how leading with 'this is bad!' wasn't helpful to a bunch of scared and hurt people. This made Midoriya suddenly remember the All Might video he always watched as a kid. He scolded himself for not keeping calm, and reminded himself that this test was more than just 'points on the way'. This was about the shape of his dream! Midoriya put on a big smile, and told the boy "It's fine!".

"Well, done young Midoriya! You got right to the heart of what this is about, and did it with a smile!" Yagi praised.

"Thanks All Might! I just hope I didn't lose too many points while figuring it out."

"Not to worry, my boy. I doubt that HUC member would have spoken that long if he only planned to fail you."

Izuku's own flashback to the All Might video got the rest of the class inspired. They'd all seen it at one point or another, and most could remember how excited they felt after seeing it, and how reassuring it was every time they heard All Might say those words. If they could just remember that, and try their best to give off that same feeling, then maybe they really could do this!

The HUC member jumped back into character and started crying about his grandpa again. This time, Midoriya was quick to reassure him that they would find and rescue the grandpa. He told the others to go on ahead while he took the kid to the first aid station. The HUC member continued to level criticism at Midoriya's word choice as the pair faded into the distance.

Even while they laughed at the HUC member's nitpicking, many couldn't help but smile warmly at the scene. It made them more hopeful about their own chances at making it through, and more hopeful about the future in general. All Might couldn't be the symbol of peace forever, but if all of them learned to smile and reassure people like that, as Midoriya had just done, then maybe his retirement wouldn't be so bad.

Uraraka watched with an unreadable expression, and wondered what she was doing. She remembered the times her classmates had brought up her possible crush on Midoriya, and how Toga had talked to her about it. She thought Deku had looked cool, being so dedicated, and decided that she would put her feelings aside to reach that same level of dedication.

"That's a good decision." Aizawa said. "Getting too caught up in your own feelings and personal issues can lead to distraction out in the field, which can get you and others in trouble."

"There's no shame in having those feelings or other feelings, of course." Present Mic went on to clarify. "But it's important to remember that there's a time and place for them, and in the middle of a fight or a rescue is not the right time or place."

Uraraka blushed and cringed when the scene first started, embarrassed that these things were being brought up again and in the middle of something so important, but ended up nodding along by the end of it.

"I agree! That is a wise decision to make at this point!" Iida said.

"Y-yeah, we'll have plenty of time to figure all that out, right?" Izuku asked. Uraraka nodded and smiled at him.

"Yeah, I think so too. We don't have to rush things, especially not when we're in the middle of something like this."

Ashido couldn't help pouting when she realized that this would likely mean there would be fewer romantic scenes between the two. Oh well, she had other classmates to tease! Maybe she could talk to Aoyama again about potential classmate pairings. It'd been a while since they'd done that, and maybe it would help Aoyama get out of the funk he'd been in recently.

Mera was shown in the observation area. He noted that everyone seemed to be doing well, but then said that they wouldn't keep things so straightforward. Multiple feet were shown walking down a dark hallway, then a very tall person with a mutant type quirk was shown among them.

"Oh my gosh is that Gang Orca?!" Izuku's inner fanboy took over. "It is! I can't believe he's gonna be a part of the training! We'll get to see the number ten hero working up close!" While Gang Orca had been at the Kamino Ward incident, there hadn't been much focus on him, so there hadn't been much to analyze. Izuku hoped they'd get to see more of him in action here.

"Why would such a strong pro hero be here though?" Momo wondered.

"We're not going to have to fight him are we?" Mineta asked.

"Why would we be fighting? This is the rescue part of the test." Hagakure said.

"Rescue operations sometimes have to be carried out while villains are still fighting. If you can get injured civilians out of the line of fire, then casualties will be reduced." Recovery Girl said.

"And that means someone will have to fight him." Bakugo smiled. He'd been worried about this part of the test before, but if there was going to be an enemy to fight, then things were looking up for him.

Inasa was shown then, yelling an introduction of himself. He then used his quirk to lift two HUC members off the ground, but a lot of debris got picked up too. One of the HUC members, who was dressed like a baby, thought about what impressive control Inasa must have to use so many kinds of wind and lift them without hurting them, but then he still yelled about it being sloppy. Nagamas told Inasa that he needed to check the victims for injuries before moving them, and that he shouldn't move things around like that either.

Recovery Girl nodded. "Those are excellent points. If either of those 'civilians' had broken bones or internal injuries, then lifting them into the air like that could aggravate those injuries."

"Structures become unstable during a disaster like this too, so sudden high winds could cause further collapse and injury." Yagi added.

The students watched and listened closely. They'd been worried when the winds picked up debris, thinking that it would hit the two HUC members. Then they'd been relieved and awed when they heard just how fine Inasa's control was, which made it all the more jarring when he was still scolded for his actions.

"There sure is a lot of stuff to keep track of when it comes to rescue. I had no idea it could be so complicated." Kirishima admitted.

Koda fidgeted nervously, now deathly afraid that he or the others would mess something important up and not end up passing.

Izuku was writing as fast as he could, trying to take in the information about Inasa's quirk and the rescue procedures all at once.

Inasa apologized and caught the HUC members in his arms. He asked if they were alright, and got yelled at for being sloppy again. Another Shiketsu student noticed that Camie had run off on her own again. In the stands, Seiji was shown criticizing Inasa, saying how the boy was too impatient for taking a test as a first year that was normally done during second year. A man sitting next to him asked if Seiji was aware that he himself had already failed the test.

Kaminari snorted. "Seriously dude, you have no right to talk here. The only thing you've accomplished today is bringing other people down."

"Yeah, and he wasn't even doing that to pass himself, he just did it because he decided some people didn't pass the vibe check." Sero agreed.

"This extra talks way too fucking much." Bakugo said.

"That Camie girl seems to come up a lot, kero."

Nedzu took note of Camie's actions. The way the students were talking made it seem like her recent actions were out of character for her, and then there was what she said to Midoriya. Nedzu had a theory now, which he hoped would eventually get proven or disproven by future events. He was currently rooting for proven, because he thought the others finding out who Camie really was would be very amusing to watch, plus it would finally establish what Toga Himiko's quirk was.

Seiji said he did know. The man, presumably his teacher, told him he should use the time to reflect on himself, and said that Seiji had been too influenced by Stain. Seiji immediately denied being influenced by a villain. The teacher said that it wasn't inherently bad, since recent events had made a lot of people want to reform hero society. But he warned Seiji that if he got too caught up in negativity and hate, it could lead him to go too far.

Iida scowled at the mention of Stain. Of course the boy who had thought himself able to judge who was and wasn't a true hero was influenced by Stain. What really unsettled him though was the idea that the boy wasn't lying and really hadn't realized he was being influenced. If Stain's extreme ideas got more traction, then how many people would end up thinking like him without even realizing it?

"Kinda sounds like he already went too far. I mean, didn't he take this test just to keep other people from passing?" Jirou commented. Momo nodded.

"It seems that way. There are worse lines to cross, but it is a crossed line nonetheless. I hope he will take his teacher's words to heart and rethink his approach."

"I can get why people would want to reform the hero system. I mean, we've seen plenty of stuff that shows it isn't perfect, but Stain's ideas are too much." Sato said.

"There is darkness in the society of heroes. However, if Stain's vision were to be followed, I believe it would only exchange one type of darkness for another." Tokoyami said.

The scene changed back to 1A. They marveled at how good the other students were at the rescue operations already. Momo discovered an old man and called for the others over to help her get to him. Uraraka ran forward, saying she would float the debris to free him. The HUC member thought to himself that she would get points deducted for that.

The students were glad to see their other selves again, if a little apprehensive. After seeing what all the other students were doing, they were eager to see if their other selves would be able to adapt and keep up. They got worried when they heard what the HUC member was thinking, and wondered if Uraraka was about to get in trouble for the same thing Inasa had been yelled at for.

Momo stopped Uraraka before she could get close enough though, using a little sign that said 'stop' to physically stop her from getting in closer.

Students giggled at the sight, and Uraraka let out an 'oof!' when her other self ran into Momo's creation.

"My apologies, I didn't intend to cause you any discomfort." Momo said quickly. Uraraka brushed the apology off with a smile.

"No problem, it didn't hurt really, just knocked the wind out of me a bit. Plus, it sounds like you just saved me from messing something up, so I should be thanking you!"

Izuku wondered if Momo had to do any extra studying to have her creation have writing on it like that. Either way, it was a good idea, as adding a bit of flare and fun to something like that would be popular with a watching audience. He'd have to tell her that when he asked her about the extra studying.

Momo explained to Uraraka how the debris had fallen in a way that, if Uraraka just started floating it, then some could fall and crush the civilian. Sato and Sero volunteered to help with the problem, and they all worked together to stabilize the area so Uraraka could go in and start digging the man out.

Jirou bumped Momo with her elbow. "Look at you taking charge! You got that set up in no time at all."

"You're doing good." Todoroki acknowledged.

Momo smiled brightly. "Thank you! It isn't just me though, Sero, Sato, and Uraraka's all contributed just as much."

"We wouldn't have known to do any of that without you though. You really saved us there!" Sero said. Sato laughed.

"Yeah, we probably would have failed the whole test right there if you hadn't directed us. So thanks for that!"

Uraraka nodded vigorously, but didn't say anything. She was trying to commit everything to memory, to make sure she could recognize situations like this in the future. She really, REALLY, didn't want to accidentally crush anyone.

"You are all handling this situation well, especially given your minimal amount of rescue training." Aizawa told them, bolstering their good mood even more.

As the kids worked, the HUC member thought to himself that, while the work wasn't perfect, it wasn't bad either. During big disasters like this it's important to be as efficient as possible. Trying to do everything yourself wasn't efficient, so it was important to know what your quirk can do and how to divide the labor with those around you. It was brave to focus on being a part of a team in a system that encouraged you to sell yourself, but it's what they had to do.

The students watched with rapt attention, trying to drink in all the information they could. When the HUC member mentioned knowing their quirks, the students started to think about how or if their own quirk would be useful in the different parts of the rescue operations they saw going on.

"Ah yes! Efficiency is the key in situations like this. After a disaster of the level this one is simulating, there are doubtless civilians who will die if they don't get treatment quickly enough. How efficient you are in your use of time and actions could be the deciding factor in whether some lives or dies, or even if they sustain permanent injury or not." Nedzu said.

Hearing that, those who were working on this particular rescue started to feel anxious. Even if they saved the man, would them taking too long make them lost points instead of gain them?

Yagi's shoulders slumped when he heard Nedzu say 'a disaster of this level'. He wasn't a hero known for his brain, but it didn't take a genius to think of why the HPSC decided to have this be the rescue simulation. The entire area looked quite similar to the aftermath of his fight with All for One.

Still, he could tell there was a lot of wasted effort going on, and thought they wouldn't pass if they continued like this. The screen shifted to show that Mineta, Shoji, and Iida were all shown a little ways away, with Mineta commenting on how they were just watching.

The students winced at the HUC member 'voicing' their exact fears.

"It is highly inefficient for us to simply observe while a rescue is underway! If we cannot help there, then we must move elsewhere!" Iida proclaimed.

"I was just thinking that." Shoji admitted. "Moving in a big group like we did in the first part of the test won't help here. We'll be able to cover more ground if we split up."

"Would it make sense to ask to help with one of the other student groups? They seem to know more about this." Mineta pointed out.

"Without the kind of training that they appear to have, I fear that attempting to join them would only cause their own operation to be inefficient." Iida explained. "They would be required to stop and explain things to us. Which means less work being done by both ourselves and them."

Shoji said that working in smaller groups would be better for this exercise. Tsuyu volunteered to go to the river, since her quirk was suited for that, and both Todoroki and Hagakure offered to go with her. From there the class quickly split up into groups of thee or four. Iida encouraged them to also communicate with the other schools when need be to rescue as many as possible.

Aizawa nodded. "You've sent the students with the best recon with different groups, which will allow them each to search more widely. You've also taken quirks into account for which areas you'll be most effective in, and did it with minimal time and fuss. Well done."

"Yeah! It may not be as fast as the other classes, but you guys are still doing your best with what you've got! Right on!" Present Mic cheered them on.

The students soaked in the praise and sat up straight or nodded in determination. They all made it through the first trial, so as long as they worked together they were sure they'd make it through here too!

"I thought you just said not to interfere with the other schools?" Mineta asked.

"My apologies if I was not clear enough! I meant we should not expect the other schools to teach us during a test! However, we should always be willing to collaborate when it comes to saving lives!"

Midoriya was starting to get a little worried about himself. He still hadn't come back after he ran off with that injured kid. Would he be able to find any of his classmates by the time that was done? What if he failed because he spent too much time trying to figure out what to do next?

Aoyama immediately went to a student from another school and used his laser to light up a dark area for them, which Mineta complimented him on.

"Ah, mon ami! You should know that I always look for opportunities to shine!"

Mineta laughed. "Yeah, I should, especially after that beacon display you did in the first part. Nice job!"

Iida and Momo quickly talked about how they'd proceed to split up. Uraraka called for Sero's help in securing a HUC members 'broken' leg. Jirou used her hearing to search for survivors.

"You're all doing so well!" Yagi praised, which made the students glow almost as bright as the first quirked baby.

Recovery Girl found herself nodding in agreement. She honestly hadn't expected them to do as well as they were given they had almost no rescue training, but the combination of that HUC member's lecture plus their own dedication had really spurred them on.

The scene changed to a the mountain zone. A couple of HUC members called out that they were hurt. Bakugo, Kirishima, and Kaminari appeared on the ledge above them. Bakugo yelled at the pair to save themselves, much to his companions' dismay.

A collective 'clap' was heard as multiple palms met foreheads.

The HUC members discussed it, admitting that they were considered to have minor injuries and thus were low priority. They thought that, perhaps, Bakugo had figured that out already and that's why he said that. Kirishima and Kaminari were surprised it had been taken that well, but decided to run down and help the HUC pair anyway. Bakugo turned to leave. One of the HUC said that he'd have points taken for his tone though, which made Bakugo angrily turn back and demand to know what that meant, which actually frightened the HUC members.

Several more palms met foreheads, and the palms that were already there either dragged down their owner's face or brushed through their hair in exasperation.

"Remember Bakubro, we rescue the civilians, not fight them." Kaminari said in a fake, lecturing tone.

"I know that! They just said they had minor injuries, they should be able to head back on their own! Why the hell do I gotta coo and comfort them for them to do that?!"

"Because people are often taught from a young age to wait for rescue whenever something like this happens." Recovery Girl said. "Most people aren't trained to know if an injury is just painful, or truly dangerous. It can be even harder to tell the difference if someone is in emotional distress, like most civilians are during disasters."

All Might nodded. "Yes, sometimes people just need a guiding word or reassuring presence in order to calm down and get themselves sorted. My smile has always been meant to achieve just that."

"Plus, even minor injuries could stop someone from reaching help if there's a lot of debris and destruction in the way, and they may need to be told where to go to get help."

All Might nodded along with Recovery Girl once again, then he turned to look at Bakugo. "You are not wrong in your assessment, and it is more efficient for you to get them sorted quickly so you can focus on more pressing cases. But finding a way to reassure those you are rescuing can go a long way in making that happen."

Bakugo's heat had toned down to a simmer as the two heroes talked. By the time All Might addressed him, Bakugo was able to take a breath and nod in acceptance.

Back in the City area, Shoji was using his quirk to locate civilians. Iida ran off in the direction he indicated, and thought of how he'd reach out to help people whether this was a test or not. He's sure it's what his brother would have done.

"Yeah, yeah it is." Present Mic agreed.

"Ingenium has always been excellent during rescues! I'm sure he'll be happy to hear how well you're doing with this part of the test." Izuku said.

"Definitely!" Uraraka agreed.

Iida felt pride and gratitude burning side by side in his heart. "Thank you! I'll do my best to achieve this in our own future as well."

Another group headed for the mountain area, since there would be more animals for Koda to use. At the river, Tsuyu dived in to save a boy, while Todoroki directed Hagakure to gather things for a fire to warm him.

"Couldn't you just use the fire part of your quirk for that?" Ashido asked.

"I'm sure I'll use my quirk to start the fire. However, I cannot go to help others if I'm forced to stay in one place. Building a fire will warm him, and any others we may find."

"Oh yeah, good point."

Midoriya was shown, still carrying the first boy they found. He spoke comfortingly to him still. When he got to the first aid area, a student from another student asked to see the boy. Midoriya gave her a run down of his injuries and mental state, and she directed him where to take the boy. Finally, the HUC member smiled and thought 'good'.

Seeing that, Midoriya felt like he was now able to breathe easier. Maybe that smile had been mostly for the girl doing well, but the HUC member also hadn't yelled at Midoriya the whole time. Considering how things started out, he figured that was pretty good!

"A concise explanation, young Midoriya! Well done!"

Gang Orca and his group were shown in that same dark place again. He contacted Mera and asked for an update. Mera said that, while there had been some incompetent actions, the HUC members were taking away fewer points than expected.

Now the rest of 1A had their turn to relax a little. Maybe their own delays wouldn't cost them as much as they'd feared!

Gang Orca mused that heroes were expected to multitask. Right after he said this, explosions went off around the stadium, much to everyone's surprise. When Gang Orca burst out from one of the holes, and PA system reminded that the scenario involved a terrorist attack, it didn't take them long to figure out what was happening. Gang Orca asked if they could rescue people and fight at the same time.

Bakugo grinned. Now this was something he could work with! He'd take on the villains and let the other hero hopefuls figure out the rescue stuff, that counted as working together right?

The other students were not quite as confident as that, but they were no less determined. Their other selves had been in plenty of fights before, and had experience saving each other. Civilians wouldn't be the exact same as that, but they'd already seen their other selves adapt quickly to things like this. So they could only watch, learn, and hope their other selves would find a way to pull this off.

Mera mused on Gang Orca a bit, remembering how he was the number 10 hero, and how he had been on the Kamino Ward rescue mission. He was also number three on the list of 'heroes who look like villains'!

"Wha- there's a list for that?" Ojiro asked incredulously.

Present Mic snorted. "There's a list for just about everything listener, and that's not even the worst one I've heard of."

"...what is the worst one?"

"You don't want to know." Aizawa said while giving Mic a warning look. The most unsavory ones weren't official lists, so the less info the kids had the less likely they'd be to find them. Mic took the hint and waved off the question.

"Judging based off of appearances like that is highly disrespectful to hard working pros!" Iida scolded no one in particular, and got a general murmur of agreement in response.

"I agree of course." Nedzu said. "It also enforces negative stereotypes, which causes its own problems. But alas, we cannot control the media." Try as he might.

The 'villains' rushed into the area, and Mera announced that they'd have to fight them while continuing the rescue efforts. The students were dismayed by this, especially Mineta. Even Aizawa acknowledged that pro heroes would have hard time with this scenario, and that they were going really far for a test.

Gang Orca walked forward menacingly, and challenged them to decide what to do. Would they protect, fight, run, hide?

The episode ended there.

"Always with the cliffhangers." Ashido grumbled.

"So, you said you wanted to talk, right?" Uraraka asked after the break had started.

"Um, well, I suggested it, because I thought it might help, and you seem to want to after that kinda stuff sometimes. But we don't have to if you don't want to!" Izuku rushed to reassure her. She shook her head.

"No, you're right, it's a good idea to talk about it since it came up. I just hate saying the same thing over and over again."

"Saying the same thing...you mean about not being sure what you're feeling?"

"Yeah, because it's us but not us so I think I know what the feeling is but not really and I can't really know for sure either way?"

Izuku stared at her, and his blank expression made her chuckle and scratch her cheek.

"That kinda got away from me huh?"

Izuku smiled a little. "Kind of, yeah. I think I might get what you mean though. There's a disconnect between ourselves and the us we see up there, right?"

"Right. Because that could be us, it was us at one point, but it isn't us anymore because we've had different things happen to us. The us up there gets a little more different from the us here every episode, but it's also still us on some level. So, it seems like the other me is feeling jealousy because of what happened with Camie, but she could just be concerned about it in general too. Or maybe that feeling was just her still trying to figure out what exactly she's feeling about you too?"

"Feelings are complicated. It doesn't have to be just one thing."

She nodded. "That's a good point. I really am hoping it's not jealousy, or at least not much of it."

"Huh? Why?"

"Well, that would be bad right? No one likes someone who gets jealous so easily. I mean, we aren't even actually together or anything, and I even know what actually happened with Camie, so I shouldn't be jealous, right?"

Izuku gave a thoughtful hum and put his chin in his hand. "Well, you still saw more than the other you did, so it's possible that your other self isn't as sure of what really happened. Plus, like I said, emotions are complicated. Just because you don't think you have a good enough reason to feel an emotion doesn't mean you won't feel it. And having feelings isn't bad! Feelings aren't good or bad, they just...are. It's only bad if they drive you to do bad things."

That actually made Uraraka think for a bit. Deku was probably talking from experience. He tended to cry over things that a lot of other people didn't cry about, and he'd probably gotten teased for that when he was younger. But she'd never considered his crying a bad thing; it just meant he was feeling a lot. All Might had told him to cry less before, but she was pretty sure that was just because he was afraid that the crying would distract Deku or blur his vision during fights and stuff. Plus it was harder to reassure people if you were crying too. That didn't mean that the feelings themselves were bad.

"So, you're saying that, even if I was feeling jealous of Camie, it's okay because I didn't do anything bad because of it?"

"Right. You didn't seem to be blaming me or Camie, and you didn't let it distract you later. So even if you did feel jealous, then it's fine, right?"

"I think...I think that's a good way to look at it." she said, nodding slowly. As long as she could talk about the feelings like this, or find some other way of dealing with them without hurting anyone, then it probably was fine, huh? "Thanks Deku." She smiled at him, and he returned one twice as bright.

"You're welcome!"

"I still can't believe they actually make a list of 'heroes who look like villains'." Ojiro said. "That just seems so wrong."

"I've heard about it before." Shoji admitted. "I've actually had other kids tell me I'll end up on it, after they heard I was going to UA."

"What? Seriously?"

"Yeah. They knew me since I was pretty young. I'm not sure how much you've noticed during lunch and stuff, but my mouth looks pretty weird, compared to other peoples. It used to really freak out some kids at my old school, so I guess that's why they said it."

"Is that why you keep it covered so much?" Koda asked softly.

Shoji nodded.

"I too have had people express similar things too me. The appearance of Dark Shadow, as well as my own appearance, have made people think I am destined for such a list." Tokoyami said.

"Doesn't surprise me. I bet a lot of the pros on that list have some kind of mutant quirk. Mutant quirk users get those kind of labels thrown at them a lot." Tsuyu said.

Koda nodded along. Truth be told, he'd been a little scared of something like that happening to him too.

"Well that's just dumb!" Hagakure fumed. "Just because people have mutant quirks or scars or something doesn't mean you should go around saying stuff like that! Villains can look like anybody!"

Ojiro nodded. "Exactly. I mean, even members of the League don't all 'look like villains' you know? If I just saw Magne walking down the street without her giant magnet thing, I wouldn't assume she was a villain. Toga looks like any other high school girl, and who knows what some of the other members look like under the masks."

"I've heard a couple stories about that kind of assumption getting in the way hero work. Like, the heroes or police see two people fighting, and assume the scarier looking one is the aggressor and arrest them, but then they learn later that the 'villainous' looking one was actually the victim and was just defending themselves the whole time." Sato said.

"Yeah, you'd really think that we'd have gotten over the whole 'traditional beauty equals goodness' thing by now, especially after quirks became so common." Jirou sighed. "But here we are."

"Well, we're already planning to tackle a lot when we become heroes. Maybe this is another thing we could add to the list?" Shoji suggested.

"Yeah! I'd be willing to take that on! We can't stop people from posting stuff, but we could stop the poll from being official at least, right?" Hagakure said. Ojiro smiled.

"I think we could." he turned to Shoji. "And about what you said about your mouth. If you wanted to take your face mask off, you could do that. We wouldn't judge you or anything."

The others agreed with Ojiro, and that made Shoji's eyes crinkle with smile.

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. I'm pretty used to it now, maybe even more comfortable with it on, but that's still good to know."

Yagi watched them from a distance and smiled. These kids already have a lot on their plates, and they kept adding more and more to it. But with them working together, and their ability to inspire others, he had confidence that class 1A could do just about anything they put their minds too.

A.N.

HUC member 1: He needs to learn some morals and values!

HUC member 2: (points at angry Bakugo) Look at him and tell me there's a god!

Bakugo: He made me in his own image you fucking extras!

Ojiro: What's the worst list?

Aizawa: Trust me on this, you don't wanna know. Hizashi, don't tell him. You shouldn'ta told me, but you did, and now I'm telling you, you don't wanna know!

The talk between Uraraka and Deku at the end ended up being a bit of a catalyst for me talking about a thing that annoys me in fandom spaces. I sometimes see takes that say this or that character is being a horrible partner because they're shown to be jealous toward their partner, and it just...that's not how that works? Like, if you let jealousy or other emotions lead you into doing hurtful things, then it's a problem. But just feeling an emotion like that doesn't make you a bad person or partner. Black and white thinking like that just ends up hurting everyone in the end.

FYI- My episode list says that the 'special episode' comes next in this season. I may do this episode eventually, but I want to finish the exam arc first, and get onto the Bakugo vs Deku fight faster. So I'll probably save that one for in between season 3 and 4. That way it can act as a breather chapter between the seasons/arcs.