The episode started off at a planning meeting for the provisional license exam, three weeks prior to the current events. One member pointed out that the way they were setting things up tested the participants ability to work as a group more than their own individual abilities. Another member explained that the National Police Agency had actually told them to make the exam encourage and test cooperation. A different person pointed out that it was necessary now that All Might had retired. He was always on top in everything, with a big gap between him and the number 2 spot.
As the man said this, an image of All Might was shown, shining brightly, while Endeavor stood farther behind him, scowling.
Now, after seeing Todoroki's memories, none of them could say that Endeavor's actions towards his family were anything close to being okay. However, some of them could admit that they understood where his strong feelings against All Might and his own position had come from. If one was constantly being compared to someone else, it would be hard not to become bitter as time went on.
Todoroki couldn't help but wonder what his father would do now. He finally had what he wanted, even if he didn't get it in the way he'd hoped. They'd all seen his tantrum after the announcement was made, but what came next? Would Endeavor eventually accept what had happened and his new position? Would it finally make him happy? Or would All Might's lingering shadow cause him to become even worse?
As the scene changed back to the testing area, one of the men's voices narrated that it would be hard to find someone capable of filling All Might's position. So now they would focus on creating an army of heroes with a strong sense of unity.
"After all we have seen, I'm glad this is the direction they choosing to move." All Might admitted. He still took pride in all the good he'd done over the years, but he was now beginning to understand the problems that came with just one person standing at the top for as long as he did.
"Indeed. As I've said before, many pillars standing together will be harder to bring down compared to just one pillar. The real question is if the system is malleable enough to adjust to this new line of thinking in time for it to make a difference." Nedzu said.
Aizawa made a note to himself to talk to Kan when he got back. If the hero world was likely to change like this in the near future then it would be a good idea to foster cooperative thinking early on. Getting 1A and 1B to see each other more as allies than rivals would be a good way to start that.
Midoriya had started to feel anxious guilt rise in him as the men on screen had talked. He was the one who had inherited All Might's quirk, shouldn't he be the one to fill that gap that was left behind? But he was too young still, and there was no way he'd ever be good enough and-
and then he'd heard what All Might said, and reminded himself that following exactly in All Might's footsteps shouldn't be his goal. The man himself thought that taking things a new direction would be good now, and the previous holders hadn't stood at the very top of the hero rankings themselves. He needed to use his power in a way that would help people today and in the future; so he refocused his mind and paid attention to the screen. The more he knew about what could happen, the better an idea he'd have about how to do that.
Mera was shown thinking about how this part of the test was set up to be a first step toward creating that unity among heroes. Gang Orca's entrance was shown once again, as well as the students' responses to it.
The students were a mixture of anxious and determined. They knew they could fight villains at this point, and had been doing better as rescuing since they started, but could they do both? Some students thought about Inasa, and how he'd been scolded for using his quirk too much during rescue operations. What would they do if their usual fighting style was too dangerous among all this debris?
Bakugo grit his teeth. He knew he could fight. He knew he had good control. He hoped it would be enough to get him through this test without some HUC extra getting on his case.
In the mountain zone, Todoroki's group noticed that the villains had appeared close to where the first aid station had been set up. Tsuyu pointed out that there was still people to rescue here, but that they couldn't ignore what was happening over there either. Todoroki agreed with her.
"Ah yes, important decisions will need to be made here. You can't abandon those still in need of rescue, but there are also a great many people to protect down there. Plus, if you don't protect the main first aid area, you may not have anywhere to bring your own rescued civilians." Nedzu said.
Aizawa watched closely, wondering how his students would decide to handle this.
Midoriya realized that he was probably the closest 1A member to Gang Orca and his, well, gang. Since he was right at the first aid area, he'd probably be one of the ones to go fight the villains. He was honestly excited at the idea of seeing his other self fight Gang Orca. He just hoped he could control his strength enough now to keep it from hurting the vulnerable civilian actors.
Todoroki had a feeling he knew what his other self was thinking of doing, and wondered if he and Midoriya would end up fighting as a team soon. After all, it would make sense for a strong fighter like him to go take on the villains while the others focused on the civilians.
Mera's thoughts explained that each participant in this portion started off with a set number of points, and that the HUC members would decide if they kept them. HUC members would evaluate their behavior and decisions. While he was saying this, images of classmates in their own rescue scenarios were being shown. Momo performed first aid and seemed to be directing others at the same time. Kirishima and Kaminari seemed to be holding Bakugo back from yelling at a couple of 'kid' HUC members.
While the people around Momo and her group got praised for their apparent cohesion, Kaminari was just hoping that joining Bakugo's team in the second half wasn't about to get him docked points by proxy.
"Dude, I know they aren't real civilians in real trouble, but it's still not manly to yell at them." Kirishima said to Bakugo. "I get you get fired up, but you gotta direct it the right way, you know?"
Hearing the criticism, no matter how gentle, made Bakugo want to yell in response. But instead, he took a deep breath and admitted. "I'm not sure I know how to do that."
Kirishima smiled at him. "No worries, you'll have time to figure it out once you get back. I'd be up for helping if you want too."
Mera's thoughts also revealed that commission members were watching from the sidelines to help determine scoring. If a person's score fell below fifty points, then they would fail.
Sero scratched his head. "Why set failure at 50 points? Wouldn't failing at zero points make more sense?"
"Perhaps the remaining fifty points are meant to serve as an indicator for how much improvement a participant needs." Iida suggested. "Someone who still has 45 points may not need as much training as someone who ended with only 10."
"Great, so we'll not only know we suck at this, we'll also know how much we suck."
"That is a very negative way to frame it, but that is the gist of it."
The villains were rapidly approaching the first aid area. Midoriya looked like he was about to step forward, but then Shindo ran past him. He told Midoriya to get the civilians out of here, and Midoriya paused only a moment before following his directions. Shindo used his quirk to break up the ground beneath the villains. It worked for the smaller villains, but Gang Orca was able to get in close and take Shindo out with one hit.
Students gasped as Shindo fell. His quirk had caused them all so much trouble, but Gang Orca got past it like it was nothing!
"Looks like you may have to join the fight after all." Tsuyu said to Midoriya.
After Gang Orca's attack, his quirk was given a close up explanation. He said it was foolish for them to leave only one person guarding their escape. He stepped menacingly forward, only to be brought up short by a wave of Todoroki's ice. While Todoroki fought, several other 1A members ran up to join the group. Ojiro explained to Midoriya that they had left Momo and Tsuyu behind to continue helping civilians while they came here.
Students cheered when Todoroki entered the fight. Those that saw themselves coming to help cheered the loudest.
"I see, I didn't expect quite so many people to come right away, but it makes sense if those are the two you left to continue helping. Tsu is very physically versatile while Yoayorozu is very versatile in other ways and has already shown she can tell when a structure is unstable and needs extra care. The two of them will work well together and that allows more people to come here and help with the fighting and evacuation." Izuku was only mumbling a little bit by the end.
Aizawa nodded in agreement to Izuku's assessment, making Momo beam and Tsuyu to give a pleased croak. The students that had come to the first aid area also smiled, feeling like the praise could apply to them a little too.
Todoroki wondered if that particular choice was made by himself or Yoayorozu. Then decided it didn't really matter so long as the team assignments worked.
Todoroki's ice managed to put a stop to the foot soldiers, but Gang Orca continued to use his sonic attack to counter Todoroki's ice easily. Todoroki said that was to be expected of the number ten hero. Suddenly, the wind picked up, and Inasa entered the fray with a gale that broke up Todoroki's ice and sent Gang Orca and the other villains flying.
Todoroki frowned in annoyance. "I had gotten everyone but Gang Orca completely immobile. He just freed them."
"Perhaps he viewed that risk as acceptable in the hopes that Gang Orca would be incapacitated, given that his sonic attack would be capable of freeing his men anyway." Momo theorized. "Still, it is a risk."
"Especially since the civilians are probably still close." Recovery Girl pointed out. "He already got scolded for using his quirk when it could topple unstable debris. I certainly hope he's being more careful now."
Inasa and Todoroki saw each other then, and neither of them were happy about it. Midoriya noticed and remembered who Inasa was. The other 1A students said this was good, the heavy hitters could handle the villains while they continued to help the civilians. One of the watching commission members praised the participants priorities, and said that Todoroki and Inasa were perfect for this job.
It was Aizawa's turn to frown now. Given the kind of power that Gang Orca wielded, that would normally be a sound strategy, especially since they didn't know of any mental quirks that might serve as an easier way of subduing the pro. But given the way Inasa and Todoroki had acted so far, he had a feeling things weren't about to go smoothly.
Izuku was getting that feeling too. He just hoped the two of them would be able to put it aside long enough to pass.
Inasa and Todoroki both expressed that they weren't happy to arrive at the scene so close together. Todoroki told Inasa to go help with the evacuation while he handled this. Todoroki and Inasa both tried to attack Gang Orca at the same time, which caused both of their attacks to miss. They started arguing with each other and accusing each other of messing the other up on purpose. The villains were shown staring at them while this happened.
If the students could have collectively 'sweat dropped', then they would have.
"Uh, I think you guys need to get yourselves figured out a little faster." Sato said.
"And with less yelling." Koda quietly added.
"I'm aware." Todoroki said flatly, staring at the screen.
"Now do you see why we keep encouraging you all to learn to communicate with your teammates? Even if you disagree with them?" Present Mic asked.
Some of the students nodded warily, while others just groaned at the second hand embarrassment.
Inasa accused Todoroki of messing him up so he could steal all the glory. Todoroki demanded to know why he would do that. Inasa asked why he wouldn't, his father was Endeavor after all.
A combination of gasps and hisses was heard after Inasa said that.
Todoroki grit his teeth as anger flared inside him. 'I am not my father! I refuse to be my father!'
"Okay, no judgment for having issues with Endeavor, I think we all do at this point." Hagakure said. "But do you really have to bring that up RIGHT NOW?!"
"Whatever darkness he harbors on this matter, the battlefield is neither the time nor the place to unleash it." Tokoyami declared.
"That's also a really unfair assumption to make about Todoroki." Izuku said firmly. His friend had enough issues with standing out from his father, and he really didn't like Inasa messing with that.
"Yeah, just because one person is an absolute asshole doesn't mean everyone related to them is an asshole too!" Jirou agreed.
The other students made various signs or noises of agreement. Todoroki wasn't very approachable, but he wasn't anywhere near as bad as Endeavor.
Todoroki started to say that his father had nothing to do with this, but was cut off by one of the foot soldier villains hitting him with a cement gun. Gang Orca scolded them both for arguing, then all the foot soldiers started to barrage the pair with cement. Todoroki used his ice as a shield, and Inasa had to dodge. He told Todoroki that this did have to do with Endeavor. He said that heroes were supposed to bring hope and inspiration and passion, but when he tried to get an autograph from Endeavor he got pushed away and told he was in the way. Then when he tried to approach Todoroki at the recommended exam, he got the same line, and saw the same cold anger that he saw in Endeavor's eyes back then.
The room was silent for a moment after they finally learned what Inasa's issue was; conflicted feelings slowing their reactions.
"Okay, I get where he's coming from with Endeavor." Uraraka said slowly. "If Thirteen had said and done that to me when I was little, I know I'd be DEVASTATED. And I get how Todoroki repeating that line could bring up some bad memories. Still, I gotta side with Hagakure on this one. Do you really need to address this RIGHT NOW?" 'Yeesh, first Camie, now this guy, what the heck do these people have against waiting to talk about things?' This, however, made her think about how Todoroki and Deku's fight went at the sports festival. She gave her friend a sidelong look. Camie and Inasa didn't have the market on 'discussing major emotional problems in the middle of important events', but she felt her point still stood.
Seeming to sense her line of thought, Izuku decided to speak up quickly. "Y-yeah, definitely! Plus, even with Todoroki repeating that line, that's still a pretty big assumption isn't it?"
"I agree! The circumstances are different. While Endeavor was callously brushing off an excited fan, Todoroki may simply have been trying to avoid distraction on a stressful day." Iida said. His own stress on the day of the entrance exams had caused him to unfairly call out Midoriya, after all.
"Todoroki? Are you alright?" Momo asked, looking at the boy in concern. Now that they had gotten their own first thoughts out, the trio also turned to look at Todoroki.
Todoroki may have been heartened by their defense of him, if he'd been paying attention to it. But he was too distracted by Inasa's words. His father's eyes...this boy truly thought he followed his father's way of looking at things. He wanted to deny it...but given what he was like at the start of the year, could he really do that? When he first started, he really was just thinking about what he himself wanted wasn't he? Like his father only thought about trying to surpass All Might...
Todoroki denied Inasa's words. Then he told himself that he wasn't like his father, and that he needed to stop listening to Inasa. He'd already overcome his relationship with his father...no he couldn't say that. There was still some hatred there. His fire started to fade a bit. Inasa declared that Endeavor and Todoroki were both the kind of heroes he couldn't stand!
Aizawa resisted the urge to let out a deep, long suffering sigh.
Clearly Todoroki and Inasa both had issues with putting aside personal issues while on the battle field. There was only so much you could teach about that in the classroom, the rest would come with experience, but he would have to add it to his ever growing list of things to address.
Still, he felt he could give Todoroki some credit, in comparison at least. He knew what kind of growth the boy needed to go through to use his fire this well. Plus, Todoroki was at least trying to focus back on the test, whereas Inasa seemed have almost forgotten about it completely. Todoroki wasn't having much success, but it was better than just giving into his emotions entirely.
Gang Orca scolded them for acting like this in front of a 'villain' again. Inasa and Todoroki both tried to attack at the same time again, resulting in both attacks going off course. To their horror, the boys realized that Todoroki's fire had been redirected right at Shindo. Midoriya only just managed to zip in and grab Shindo in time. Once he did, he turned back to the other two and demanded to know what they were doing.
"I'm sorry you had to get involved because I couldn't control myself. That is shameful for a future pro." Todoroki made sure to look Midoriya in the eye as he said that. He may have fallen into himself earlier, but he couldn't stay silent when he'd almost gotten a fellow student hurt like that.
"No, I shouldn't have had to do that." Izuku agreed. "But, I also get that its not your fault alone, and that this is a hard issue for you."
"That doesn't matter. I should have known better, should have kept my focus on the test."
"That's true. It's also true that you have time to work on it. You know this is something you'll struggle with now, so you can work on it when we get out of here."
Todoroki nodded slowly, like he was wary of accepting the encouragement. "You make a good point. I will make sure to do so, and hopefully I will not be pulled into this when I meet Inasa in our own world." Maybe if he approached Inasa the right way in the future things wouldn't get this bad.
The scene changed to an elementary school sometime in the past. Inasa's voice explained that he'd never been afraid of anything growing up, and he was shown picking up a pair of bugs that the other kids were freaking out over.
Koda shuddered a bit. He still didn't like bugs, despite seeing his other self use them to pass the final exam.
Present Mic wasn't fairing much better. "That school's gotta get a better janitor or something, or an exterminator." He muttered while hugging himself. Aizawa huffed a laugh at his friend's ridiculousness.
Bakugo rolled his eyes. He already wasn't feeling overly impressed with Inasa after he couldn't get his quirk to work around Icy Hot's quirk, and felt even less so when his example of being brave was picking up bugs. Honestly, Bakugo was taking on upperclassmen at that age!
Seeing heroes take on crises, he became enamored with them right away! Their passion blew him away. That's why he hated Endeavor. The only emotion he got off of Endeavor was hatred for something far off, so he'd hated the man in turn. The scene changed to the recommendation exam, where Present Mic was explaining how the students in front of him would need to use their quirks to get through a race course filled with all sorts of obstacles.
Seeing the reason Inasa latched onto heroes gained him back a little respect in Bakugo's book. He'd latched onto All Might for pretty similar reasons after all. Now if only he could shut up and actually do the test instead of arguing with Icy Hot then he breezy boy would be way less annoying. Maybe Bakugo didn't have a leg to stand on when it came to rescue, and he had argued with IcyHot plenty during the summer camp attack, but they'd still managed to work around each other. He even managed to work with Deku to fight All Might and the two of them had issues going on for years!
Meanwhile, the other students couldn't help but be interested. They'd never seen any part of the recommended exam, and neither Momo nor Todoroki had talked about it much.
"Oh, that race course makes me think about that first leg of the Sports Festival! No wonder you both did so well on that."
"Hey, isn't that guy with all the teeth in 1B now?"
"That is him isn't it? I think his name is Juzo."
"That course looks crazy! Yoamomo, can you tell us about it later?"
"I don't see why we couldn't do that during the next break."
The race started, with Todoroki and Inasa competing in the same race. Inasa was surprised and impressed when Todoroki's ice managed to outpace him at first. He remembered he didn't like the boy's eyes, but decided that if he made friends with Todoroki then maybe it wouldn't bother him so much.
That surprised a lot of people. Given how badly Inasa had reacted to that first, short encounter with Todoroki, many had assumed that Inasa had completely written the other boy off afterwards. If he was still open to the idea of making friends now, then did something else happen too?
Kaminari winced. "You might want to take a rain check on that one, buddy. I don't think Todoroki's ready for that yet."
"Yeah, he doesn't unlock his friendship abilities until later." Ashido agreed.
Inasa sped up, and managed to cross the finish line just a hair in front of Todoroki. Inasa celebrated his win, but admitted that anything could happen next time. He enthusiastically turned to Todoroki, telling him he was amazing and asking if he was Endeavor's kid. Todoroki told him to shut up, and that he wasn't really competing with him. Inasa saw he had that look of 'faraway hatred' in his eyes, just like Endeavor.
If Todoroki were more emotive, he might have laughed bitterly. As it was, he just hung his head like his other self was doing. He'd tried not to think about his father too much recently, since that seemed to help him in this future, but it was hard not too at times. It was also hard to be reminded that, despite being so focused on not being like his father and not using his fire, that those were the very things that had made him similar to the old man. It's just that his own 'faraway hatred' was much closer to home compared to his father's.
"Oh, I get what the problem was." Tsuyu said "He thought Todoroki was like Endeavor because of that look, but part of the reason he looked like that was there was because Inasa brought up Endeavor in the first place."
"Yeah, the dude was trying to be manly, but he accidentally brought up some bad memories while doing it." Kirishima said. He couldn't blame Todoroki for being mad that he was, seemingly, being compared to his father again, and just after a loss too. He also couldn't blame Inasa for taking it the wrong way, since he didn't have context for any of that. He just wished both of them had managed to stomp it down long enough to make it through the test first. Maybe then this whole misunderstanding could have been sorted out without making such a mess.
The scene snapped back to the present, where Midoriya was once again demanding to know what the other two boys were doing. Midoriya and Shindo crashed into the ground while the other two looked on in shock.
Midoriya yelped as his other self hit the ground.
A couple heroes in the audience commented on how hard it was to believe they were acting like this when they were from top schools. Mera was shown looking down at his computer in disapproval.
Mineta winced. "Uh, based on the wording, I think they were just implying that you already failed."
Todoroki sighed, his head hanging low again. "That would not surprise me."
Meanwhile, Todoroki only just remembered where he'd seen Inasa before. He wondered why he hadn't put it together sooner, and realized he hadn't truly looked at the boy before. He'd been so focused on defying his father that he hadn't had time for anything else. He thought about what he said to his father after he beat Midoriya, about forgetting him and not knowing if that was the right way to go about things or not. He realized now that his own actions were coming back to haunt him, and that he couldn't just bury his past like that.
"I'm glad this helped you realize that, at least." Momo said, smiling at him encouragingly. She wished it had happened under better circumstances, but there was nothing to be done about that.
"I am too." Todoroki admitted. He never wanted to give people the same feeling his father had always given to himself and others. Despite how terribly this had all gone, he could at least use it to find a better way of addressing that problem.
"I feel like I should apologize for starting a tradition of getting you to have revelations during big, important fights." Izuku scratched the back of his head sheepishly. Todoroki shook his head.
"This situation isn't your fault, and you helped us snap out of it." Plus, he wouldn't have progressed even this far in his own issues if Midoriya hadn't done what he did during the Sports Festival.
"I gotta ask though. How come you didn't recognize him in that timeline like you did here? Did you remember that whole conversation that was shown between the two of you here too?" Ojiro asked.
"I think it comes down to really looking at people, again." Todoroki said slowly. "Perhaps my other self hadn't been looking properly at Inasa, the way I was able to do here. As for the conversation...I really didn't remember it until it was shown, not fully. I suppose, at the time, it wasn't a big deal to me. Not like it was for him."
"Makes sense. Sometimes something that has a big impact on you has no impact on someone else, or vice versa." Shoji mused.
Gang Orca started to reach for Todoroki, who moved to dodge, but then Gang Orca turned and fired a sonic attack at Inasa instead. The boy cried out in pain and the foot soldier villains cheered. Inasa lost control and began to fall. Todoroki saw, but before he could do anything Gang Orca grabbed him. He said 'you reap what you sow' and then used his sonic attack.
A wave of worry had risen up when Inasa began to fall toward the ground. If he hit the ground at that angle, there was a good chance he'd get severely hurt, or worse, and pretty much everyone flinched or grimaced when Inasa smacked into the ground. A portion of that wave got swiftly redirected when Todoroki let out a sharp gasp.
Todoroki felt it when his other self was seized by the neck. The distraction of that sudden sensation meant he had little time to brace himself for the attack that came right after, and he let out a cry of pain that nearly transformed into an all out shriek before the attack let up.
The next moment, Yoayorozu had an arm around his shoulders, and Midoriya was holding out a towel to him. All things considered, he really should have gotten one of those earlier. His other self was still shaking on screen, and looked far from coherent. But Todoroki himself regained enough presence of mind to accept the towel and shove it in his mouth.
While Todoroki hung limply in Gang Orca's hand, the wind started to pick up again. Inasa hadn't moved at all, but the winds were still gathering around him. Gang Orca realized he hadn't accounted for how much further away Inasa had been. While Gang Orca fought Todoroki and Inasa, the foot soldiers all decided to go attack the evacuation area.
Aoyama gave the screen a skeptical look. "Did they forget what Shindo did to them so quickly?"
Ashido pointed to him emphatically. "I was just thinking that! Even if he isn't back to 100% yet, Midoriya is still there too, and probably some other people by now. But they're acting like attacking the evacuees is gonna be easy!"
"Maybe having two powerhouses accidentally cancel each other out made them think that other fights would be easy." Sato theorized.
Inasa cursed himself as he lay on the ground. Midoriya's voice rang through his head, and he realized that he'd become the very thing he hated. Todoroki's clenched face was shown as he realized that his own past actions had caused this. As one, they thought 'I have to fix this!'
Tokoyami nodded "Yes, looking back on it, the looks that Inasa gave to Todoroki held a darkness very similar to the hatred he found so repulsive."
Aizawa found himself nodding as well. He was hoping that the Todoroki on screen would figure out he'd messed up soon, and it seemed that the one here and now had figured it out much sooner. Good, that was one less lecture he'd have to give.
Todoroki's pain still lingered, but it had eased just a little bit more now. He was relieved to see that both himself and Inasa seemed to have realized what needed to be done, and just hoped they could figure out how to do it. He gave Midoriya a nod of gratitude, for the towel, and then patted Yoayorozu's hand to show her gratitude as well.
Others looked up at the screen hopefully, or crossed their fingers. If the two boys actually started to work together, then maybe they could turn this whole disaster around.
Ashido cried out that the villains were coming for them. Midoriya got ready to fight, but Shindo suddenly pushed him out of the way and used his quirk, sending the villains flying just like he did before. Midoriya asked how he could still move, and Shindo explained that his own quirk shook up his brain quite a bit, so he'd built up a resistance to attacks like Gang Orca's.
Students cheered when Shindo did his big attack again. It was rather ironic, considering how many of them had cursed that very same attack during the first part of the test.
Izuku's pen flew across the page as he wrote down what Shindo said, as well as some things he extrapolated from it.
Then Shindo angrily declared that he'd been planning a surprise attack with his quirk, but that those others had messed it up! It freaked Midoriya out a little, but Shindo got over it quickly and told Midoriya to take the villains out while they were down. Midoriya ran forward to do just that.
Ashido was a little disappointed that it was still only Shindo and Midoriya covering their escape, but she supposed it actually hadn't been that long since they all started running. It just seemed that way since they had all those flashbacks and stuff with Inasa.
Izuku felt himself relax a bit as he saw himself start working with Shindo to fight the villains. He would be happy to help civilians along with the others as well, but this way he was working to keep everyone safe, rather than keeping just a few safe while hoping others would cover their escape. He'd never thought too deeply before, about how much better he felt when he was the one doing all/most of the protecting, but maybe he should. Everyone did keep telling him not to be quite so self sacrificial, after all.
Gang Orca dropped Todoroki, who fell on his face, then mused on what he should do next. Todoroki thought about how he and Inasa had competed with each other in vain, and that they couldn't possibly beat a top hero like this. Still, he managed to look up at Inasa, and remember what the boy said about heat making the wind rise. His fire side lit up, flames blazing up into the air. Inasa felt numb, but he knew he had to do something. He managed to start up a wind attack. The wind and the flames hit each other, and combined into a flaming tornado that engulfed Gang Orca.
Students gaped at the screen, stunned by the power the two still managed to display.
"Working together like that, and while barely able to move! That's so freaking manly!" Kirishima gushed.
"It took you a while, but that's still pretty impressive." Tsuyu agreed.
Despite the pain that continued to radiate through his body, Todoroki couldn't help feeling relieved. Maybe there was still hope for him yet, maybe he could still forge his own path instead of just following his father's.
"I knew you'd figure things out." Izuku told him with a smile.
Yoayorozu smiled at him too. Todoroki's face wasn't accustomed to smiling much anymore, and the gag didn't help, but he still felt the corners of his own mouth turn up a bit.
"Yeah! There you go listeners! Even when you don't get along with someone, you can still fight together if you put enough effort into it!" Present Mic said.
Aizawa thought he sounded like the narrator on some kids show announcing the 'lesson for the day', but decided not to say anything and focused on the screen.
Gang Orca, despite standing in the middle of a fire tornado, thought about how strong and determined these two were now acting. It didn't make their earlier mistakes go away, but it was still impressive. He recognized that they were trying to make up for their earlier mistakes, and appreciated their efforts.
"Excellently put! It's important to remember that, no matter how far you go down the wrong road, you can still turn back." All Might said.
Todoroki felt his inner turmoil settle even further as the high ranking heroes acknowledged his efforts.
Izuku heard All Might's words, and his brain automatically filed them away to be examined more in depth later.
Most everyone else in the room was just impressed that Gang Orca managed to be that calm and coherent while standing in the middle of a column of fire.
The foot soldiers noticed Gang Orca was in trouble and fired their cement guns at Todoroki. He protected himself with a wall of ice. Using both his fire and his ice tended to slow him down, but that kind of thing didn't matter if he couldn't move anyway!
Sero snorted at Todoroki's reasoning. "There you go man, stay positive!"
"In all seriousness, it is quite impressive to use one's own inability to move to one's advantage." Iida said. Seeing Todoroki immobile like that made him remember the paralysis he and the others went through during their fight with Stain. Being able to create such a strong attack while paralyzed would have been an incredible boon during that fight.
"Hell yeah! This fight keeps getting more and more manly!"
The foot soldiers tried to decide what to do, but were interrupted by Midoriya descending upon them. With Full Cowl active, he easily sent several villains flying. Then Ojiro suddenly appeared, using his tail to redirect the cement guns and his martial arts to take down villains. He and Midoriya stood back to back, and Ojiro explained that the evacuees were all safe and that more back up would arrive soon.
"Oh my gosh you guys look so cool!" Hagakure squealed in delight.
"Heck yeah they do! Look at those smiles and badass poses! These villain stand ins aren't gonna know what hit 'em!" Ashido said while punching the air excitedly.
"Good to see you Ojiro! Thanks for the help!" Izuku said.
Ojiro's grin mirrored the one his onscreen self was wearing. "No problem! Glad I can finally join the fight!"
Kirishima looked like he might just implode from the amount of pure manliness he was taking in.
Mera was shown looking through the cameras that showed the rescue operations. His thoughts revealed that just three HUC people were left to rescue, and that getting them to safety would signal the end of the test. He'd be able to sleep soon!
Jirou snorted. "Good to know he's got his priorities straight."
Ashido and Tokoyami arrived to help next. The foot soldiers tried to hit them with the cement guns, but Tsuyu suddenly revealed herself and tripped them all up with her tongue. Midoriya was surprised and asked when she got there. She told him she'd gotten her camouflage up to a level where she could use it in combat.
"Oh gosh that was so awesome!" Ashido praised.
"It's like you came out of nowhere! You must have worked super hard on that!" Uraraka added.
"Hey now! Invisibility is my thing, don't steal it!" Hagakure whined in mock distress.
"Thank you, kero." Tsuyu said, sounding quite pleased with herself. "It's not real invisibility like yours though Hagakure, just camouflage. If I move too fast, it's probably obvious that something is there, so you've still got me beat for that."
Seeing her new move being used so effectively had sent Izuku into another writing frenzy, and Iida had to nudge him so he didn't miss too much of the show.
Ojiro asked if Tsuyu was done with the rescue already. She started to answer, but then called out a warning when a bunch of villains tried to jump him from behind. They were stopped by the appearance of Nagamasa, who caught them all up in his hair. He declared that it was a disgrace to Shiketsu that so many were still left after he sent Inasa here.
Many students once again found themselves 'oooing' and 'awwing' at the power being displayed, similar to how Ojiro and Tsuyu were looking at the Shiketsu boy onscreen. Izuku was writing down even more about the quirk, and also wondering whether or not Nagamasa's quirk required him to go to the hair salon more or less compared to others.
"To be fair to Inasa, he was a little preoccupied with Gang Orca." Shoji said.
"He would have been less so if he hadn't gotten caught up in his personal issues during the fight." Tokoyami pointed out.
"Also true." Shoji acknowledged.
The focus changed back to Gang Orca. He declared that a normal villain might give up by now, but what if the villain didn't? He was shown to be pouring water over himself, to prevent himself from drying out, while declaring that you always had to be thinking ahead to the next step.
"And that, listeners, is why its important to be prepared as well as have a strong quirk." Present Mic said in his 'lecture' voice. Recovery Girl nodded.
"Knowing your weaknesses and keeping things on you to help counteract them is just good sense."
Todoroki grit his teeth. Even with him putting his all into that attack, he was just too weak after Gang Orca's first attack. Was there anything else he and Inasa could do?
Gang Orca dispelled the fire tornado. Todoroki and Inasa couldn't do anything more, still immobile. Gang Orca reached for Todoroki, but was stopped by Midoriya. He yelled at him to get away from them, and Todoroki stared up at Midoriya. Before the fight could progress further, Mera announced that that last person had been rescued and the exam was over.
Several people let out sighs of relief at the announcement. Hopefully that meant they'd all get a break, and that they'd find out the results of the test soon.
Todoroki felt conflicted. He wasn't opposed to working with others, and he'd gladly work with Midoriya, but he also felt regretful that Midoriya's intervention had been necessary. After everything wrong he'd done during that fight, it felt like getting rescued at the end only added to his shame. It probably didn't help his point total either. Still, none of that was Midoriya's fault, so he told Midoriya 'thank you' for his timely appearance.
"You're welcome, I'm just glad you weren't hurt further.
Bakugo's group was shown, apparently having been the ones to rescue the last HUC members. Other students were shown as Mera explained that the results would now be tallied and gave instructions for where the participants should now go.
The foot soldier villains apologized to Gang Orca for not helping him more. One mentioned that the restraints on him must have really held him back. Gang Orca refuted this, saying that the fire spiral was impressive either way, and Midoriya's surprise attack had still cracked his armor. He thought that if the battle had gone on any longer, things may have ended differently.
The reaction between the students and teachers to this revelation was a little different. The students' thoughts were along the lines of: 'Holy heck he had a handicap that whole time and was still that powerful?!'
While the teachers' thoughts were more like: 'Holy heck, these kids nearly beat the number ten pro hero?! He may have had a handicap, and possibly been holding back a bit, but that's still an incredible feat for a couple of first year students.'
The students were reminded that, even with their own experiences, there was still a long way for them to go as future heroes. The teachers were reminded that their students were capable of great things already, which they would have to take into account while teaching them.
Time skipped ahead a bit, as everyone was back into their school uniforms and gathered together in front of a large screen. Various students were shown looking nervous as Mera explained how the scoring system for the second part of the exam worked. Basically they were being graded on how many mistakes they made in the middle of a crisis situation.
Todoroki was getting a bad feeling about this. He noticed some of the other students looking over at him in worry too, and knew they must be thinking the same things as him. Was there any way he could pass the exam after the mistakes he made while fighting Gang Orca with Inasa?
Mera directed them to look at the screen as it lit up with the names of those who had passed. The students were shown looking desperately through the list-
and then the episode ended.
"OH COME ON!"
While normally this cry was taken up by just Ashido, and occasionally a few others, this time the exclamation seemed to come from everyone, and all at the same time. Even the teachers seemed put out at such a ridiculous cliffhanger, Aizawa especially.
If anyone had the presence of mind to listen carefully, they would have heard a faint, eerie laugh that came in response to their collective frustration.
No words needed to be exchanged for everyone to agree to move onto the next episode right away. It hadn't been that long since they'd stretched, and absolutely no one wanted to wait to know the results.