Izuku and Suri have a talk. The Joint Training Battles are underway and not one but TWO special guests are here.

Izuku and Suri were finishing their morning run when it happened. None of the usual pleasantries and teasing that went along with finishing their morning workouts. No, Suri hadn't had the chance to tease him about sneaking into the showers with him when a bomb got dropped on her head.

"Suri, we need to talk."

Those four words that no one ever wants to hear because of all the connotations that came with them. Because when you say those words, the person on the receiving end was about to get the worst news possible. Coming from Izuku though? Suri started to panic. He'd said it in a swift, stern tone that clearly said that she'd messed up. What she messed up was anyone's guess, though.

As Suri silently nodded and then followed him to his room, her mind flooded with every possibility and was trying to come up with any reason he'd want to dump her. Because that's what he was wanting right? Was he no longer okay with being polyamorous? Was he starting with Suri and going to choose either Mina or Tooru? Maybe he was going to choose Yumei? Maybe Aiko or Mai? Then again, he'd been hanging out with Ochako more recently so maybe he was breaking everything off to try dating her instead? Or maybe he was wanting to break everything off and date someone else completely.

Was it Bakugou? Pazuzu? Todoroki? Aoyama?

Was he mad at her for going on a date with Ryuko? Her date with Pazuzu? Aiko? The dates couldn't have been the problem because they'd talked it over and there was always an open line of communication. Was there too much communication? Too much overstimulation? Maybe the entire ordeal of him diving head first into exploring his relationship dynamics and sexuality was taking its toll and he was burnt out and needed a break. Was this it?

Was he letting her down slowly and wanting to break up in person?

Or was this about the Ragdoll poster?

Was he that jealous about it? It wasn't like she hadn't caught him looking at it quite a few times and was pretty sure he'd thought about the pro heroine. Hell, Suri had for years. And thanks to Mineta blurting out that Suri had one of Ragdoll's posters, the woman herself wound up in Suri's room. The Ragdoll. Of course nothing had happened because of obvious reasons that both women were well aware of. No, she was massively grateful for the support and to know that Suri was a fan of hers. Was it a bit awkward? Sure. Though how could it not be awkward to get outed that you have a naked picture of one of your idols hanging in your room? Even more awkward was Ragdoll openly laughing and wanting to see proof only to go wide eyed with shock when it was, in fact, proven to be true. Suri had been massively embarrassed when Ragdoll started commenting on the condition of the poster that was nearly a decade old and how good she looked that day. And then even more embarrassed when Atiena blurted out that the greenette was still hot as fuck. But hey, now Suri not only had a nude pinup of Ragdoll, but it was autographed with hand drawn hearts and cat faces to boot.

Was Izuku envious of the signed poster and wanted it that badly?

Were things really that bad between them? She knew he'd been training harder since watching the news coverage of Endeavor and Hawks taking down that High End Nomu. Hell he'd overworked himself so much last night that he'd gone to bed early alone from how dog ass tired he'd been. Was that her fault? Did she-

"S-Suri, please calm down," Izuku said nervously, holding his hands up defensively to try and help ease her mind.

Suri blinked and found them in front of Izuku's room and the boy himself looking terrified and sweating bullets. He chuckled nervously as Suri came back to reality and began to look around and take in her surroundings. When she looked at him again she realized she'd been muttering the entire time and had scared him with her small nervous muttering fest that was a borderline panic attack. She'd had an Izuku moment.

"You um… I-I know I'm bad when I get into my head but that was something else," he shook his head, giving her a weak smile.

"Oh gods," Suri sighed deeply, hanging her head in defeat and then letting out a groan. "I'm so sorry for that. Just whenever someone says we need to talk it's… ya know…"

"You're right," Izuku said before cupping his chin and mumbling to himself about how he could have worded it better or differently.

"A-Anyway," Suri chuckled softly, this time being the one to raise her hands defensively. "What's up, babe? I mean we are still," Suri quickly motioned back and forth between her and Izuku with one eyebrow cocked nervously.

"Oh! Yeah, no, we're," Izuku chuckled and waved his hands frantically at Suri before he finally took a breath and calmed himself down. "Honestly, I think all of you are more likely to ditch me than for me to break up with you."

"Oh. Well, okay then, I guess we don't have anything to worry about then," Suri nodded and mimicked wiping sweat from her forehead. "Anyway. Is everything okay?"

"Honestly? I'm not sure," Izuku said nervously, turning to stare at his door. He thought about his words for the next few moments, leaving the two of them in silence for a minute or so before he finally spoke again. "When… Atiena began to manifest and start to talk to you, like when you first got her, did you… um… Did this ever happen to you?"

Izuku quickly turned his door knob and opened his door before Suri could say anything. She was about to ask him for clarification when she looked inside his room and saw the place in shambles. His usual neat displays of figures and merchandise were strewn everywhere, some of it ripped or broken in pieces. The bedspread was torn to shreds and had burn marks through it in the spot he normally laid when he was sleeping alone. It looked like he'd gone beast mode on his room and that made Suri's heart stop.

"Did I?! No," Suri nearly exclaimed her worst fear of having infected Izuku. Her thoughts filled with the image of Izuku in leopard or wolf form. The thought that he'd turned was quickly squashed because she would have known. "No, we had the Lupanar on the full moon a week and a half ago. If you were getting a beast it would have manifested around then and honestly you'd be the most subdued right now cause we're on the new moon."

Suri stepped inside and began looking around, inspecting the damage more closely while Izuku closed the door behind them. Her head snapped back and forth as she took in the scene and tried to think of an explanation for it.

"Aoyama found me here last night. I made so much noise he came to check on me and found all of this and me right in the middle. We were both pretty scared," Izuku admitted.

"Was it Nighteye?" Suri asked, taking a deep breath and hoping it wasn't a night terror. Her and the girls had been helping him through them and now they were becoming pretty rare. The thought that he had been suffering and she wasn't there to help made her chest tighten.

"No. No, it wasn't a… well it sort of was but… I wanted to ask you something before I talked to All Might. It's," Izuku began rambling before he stopped himself, took in a deep breath and held it before he let it out slowly. Once he was refocused he looked Suri dead in the eyes. "I want to ask you about you and Atiena about something in particular. I… think if I understand the two of you and the mind forest, I might have a better idea of what's going on."

"Izuku, I'm not sure what you mean," Suri furrowed her brow, looking at the greenette intently.

"I saw them."

"Them?"

"At the Sports Festival, when Shinso had me, right before I was about to step out of bounds, I saw a bunch of figures staring at me in the tunnel. I talked to All Might about it and he said he'd seen them before when he was a lot younger before he lost his master, the previous users of One For All. They were just shadows back then. They're the ones who snapped me out of Shinso's control. Last night… I saw them again. One of them spoke to me and he showed me his memories of him and All For One. I could see myself but I couldn't talk or move, I wasn't all there but some of the others, like All Might's former master, I could see them perfectly."

Suri turned to Atiena inside their shared mind and stared at each other for a moment. The glance they shared told each other everything they were thinking without words before nodding in agreement. The agreement saw Atiena tagging her human counterpart out and taking her spot in the real world, letting her form mature from Suri to Atiena's human form. The beast woman took in the sights and scents for herself, eyeing their boyfriend as she did her own investigation of the room. She smiled softly as he explained his situation, listening while she bent over onto his bed and took in a deep scent of the burns in the sheets. She murred softly and smiled as her nose filled with Izuku's scent but then tilted her head curiously as a small trace of someone or someones lingered with it.

Atiena looked at the burns, the destruction, and then her boyfriend. She took a long moment to process what she could offer and how best to explain her and Suri's arrangement. She watched Izuku with a loving glance before she took a deep breath, sat down on the edge of his bed and smiled up at him. Smiling even more when she saw his faint blush as his eyes traced over her.

"Okay, my love, where do you want me to begin?"

"Oh, I'm so excited," Mina squealed as she burst through the doors of the girl's locker room, leading the way. "New gear! New gear! New gear!"

Suri just laughed as she followed behind her girlfriend as they made their way to their lockers. The locker room was already bright with commotion before Mina and the girls from 1-A added to it. Mina and Tooru especially caused a racket as they noisily slapped their new hero suit briefcases onto the benches and popped them open to start going through their new stuff. As Suri got to her spot she saw a head of orange and head of blonde pop around the corner to see what the new noise was. The two familiar figures made Suri grin and wave.

"Hey, ladies," Kendo greeted.

"Hi!" Pony exclaimed excitedly just under her.

"Heyyoo," Suri greeted back before popping her briefcase open. "You girls going out for practical training today too?"

"Yup," Pony nodded.

"We're doing team drills today," Kendo confirmed. "So we should have some fun at least. Plus, it sounds like we're not the only ones getting to try out new upgrades today."

"Gee, I wonder how you could tell," Suri snickered and eyed Mina and had to blink rapidly and try to hide the instinctive lip bite. Because of course Mina was already stark naked, and beginning to wrestle with the new leotard that had been neatly folded.

Suri's eyes went back to Kendo and Pony to talk to them again and paused before a wide smirk crossed her lips. She nonchalantly began undressing herself as she cleared her throat and started giggling as Kendo and Pony's blushes went dark crimson as their eyes went from Mina to Suri and directly to her now exposed upper body.

"You know you're always welcome over at girl's night," Suri teased, making Kendo cough as Pony ran into her. It made the three girls laugh as Pony began rubbing her head where she'd smacked into Kendo.

"You sure I won't get sucked into the harem too?" Kendo offered with a cheeky grin, raising her eyebrow in curiosity.

"Only if ya want to," Tooru answered this time.

"God rest the souls of you sinners," Ibara said from across the locker room.

"Oh please! You know you can't say anything cause we totally caught you and Kiri outside behind the dorms the other night," Tokage piped up, letting everyone now have that mental image float into their brains.

"Mm. Plowing your garden," Kodai stated dryly in her normal stoic tone and successfully burning that image into everyone's heads now.

Some of the girls began protesting that mental picture but then began laughing hysterically when they heard Ibara shriek at the comments. They heard her wrap both Tokage and Kodai in her vines to get them to shut up but it was too late because as she did so, Kodai made another lewd comment. Hearing the stoic girl say harder, mommy broke everyone as they began laughing while Ibara screamed and stormed out of the locker room in embarrassment.

From there everyone was in good spirits as the girls finished getting dressed into their new winter gear. Suri and Mina took a similar approach to their costumes with Mina adding a small vest lined with fur inside to keep her warm and a puffy fur collar. It added to Mina's moth aesthetic that she had going with her costume. Suri did the same, making the mesh on the front of her costume stop at her collarbone with a clasp across her chest and made the choker its own separate piece. Now she had off white colored fur starting just below her breasts coming up either side of the split on the singlet to encircle her neck. Around her waist was a new belt that had several utility pouches holding several items she'd made with Pazuzu's help; which included improved claw gauntlets in the largest pouches on her hips. The belt itself had a fur trim itself and was styled after the pelt skirt she'd worn during the beauty pageant because of how well received her onstage costume had been.

For Tooru's costume, Pazuzu, Saito, Mai, and Mei had turned her into a four man project, revamping the VisiBand so that it specifically affected the light and energy on the surface of her skin. It became the overall control for not only when she wanted to be visible throughout the day but was specifically tied to her hero costume itself. The body suit was similar in design to Tsu's costume with the base color being an iridescent blue instead of dark green, and pink where there was gold. The pink, blue, and black shimmered in the changing light because of the crystalized fibers that made up the suit's construction, making it glint like it was a holographic foil. The fiber also gave her a thin layer of armor and protection. Aside from the bodysuit was a utility belt that housed restraints, a first aid kit, flashbangs, and smoke grenades. Did she need the flashbangs? No. Because she was a walking flashbang and stun grenade with how far along her training with the support team and Izuku had come along.

The girls regrouped with the guys from their class in front of Ground Gamma and were admiring each other's costumes and the upgrades for winter when dread annoyance washed over everyone. There was no mistaking Monoma's voice, his annoying cackle and the outright disdain he had for Class 1-A for some goddamn reason. Even after all this time, there was no reason for the rivalry he kept trying to brew between A and B but try he did. And there was no denying the disgust his gaze still held when he looked at Suri, even after the air had been cleared with everyone else in his class.

He was just that fucking annoying and, by far, the most petty human being Suri had ever met.

And that was saying something.

"Quiet you," Mr. Aizawa sighed as he strangled Monoma with his capture scarf, finally getting the boy to shut the hell up. Thank the gods.

"We've got some special guests today," Vlad King said as he came up beside Aizawa, grumbling at his own problem student.

"So please try not to make fools of yourselves," Aizawa added.

"Guests?" Suri asked, tilting her head in curiosity as she looked back and forth between her classmates and their teachers.

"Yes, today should be very exciting," Principal Nezu said as he came up the stairs towards the two classes. Behind him were two people everyone, or most everyone, recognized and were excited to see. "I'm sure all of you are familiar with these two, yes? Hitoshi Shinso of Class C in General Studies and our bright UA hopeful Yumei Nagamaki."

"Yu Yu!" Tooru and Mina cheered, excitedly hopping up and down as their favorite snake girl appeared behind the principal.

"Shinso! Yumei!" Izuku cheered happily for both teens, greeting them eagerly.

Aside from the quick chatter, Suri's eyes were still wide with a little bit of shock and surprise from seeing one of her best friends here. She remembered texting the snake girl this morning and had noticed that she'd been pretty tense or nervous. Yumei had said that she had an important interview today and said she was both extremely excited but also having a mild panic attack over it. And now that she was staring at the snake girl clad in a UA tracksuit that had been modified to fit her form; she realized why.

Still, seeing the navy blue, red, and white pants reshaped into a sort of skirt that hugged Yumei's hips was quite the sight.

"Go on. Introduce yourselves," Aizawa said, motioning to Shinso first.

"I had encounters with some of you at the Sports Festival but don't think we're friends just cause we fought," Shinso declared, his voice and resolve sounding like a young Aizawa. "I'm not really the type for good sportsmanship and the like. I'm already so far behind all of you so I'm doing everything to catch up. I'll be a great hero someday and strive to use my Quirk to help people. So to me, all of you here are just obstacles for me to overcome." He then looked Izuku dead in the eye as he all but called him out directly, "I'm not here to make friends."

With that everyone was forced to give Shinso the awkward applause his speech deserved. Because there was no denying that what he said couldn't be followed up with any sort of cheery remarks or quips. It was short, dry, to the point and Sero summed it up perfectly when he described Shinso as pre-upgrade Todoroki to which even Todoroki himself agreed.

Yumei stared at Shinso next to her, eyebrow cocked as she eyed him with the same bewilderment as most everyone else. Then she watched as all of the attention turned to her and she all but froze in place as over forty pairs of eyes all fixated onto her.

"Hi! I-I um… I-I uh… I'm Yumei N-Nagamaki and uh…"

The snake girl fumbled and faltered with her words thanks to all of the attention and if she hadn't been a snake she'd have been covered in a coat of nervous sweat. Her hands idly fidgeted, tapping her fingers together as she tried to think of what to say. It wasn't until she looked at Suri, Izuku, Mina, Tooru, and Kirishima that she paused and focused on them. Suri nodded to the girl softly, making motions to tell her to breathe while Mina and Izuku smiled warmly at her and both mouthed to her words of encouragement. That's when she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and grounded herself before opening her eyes again, more focused and ready to go.

"A lot of you know me because of my involvement during the League's invasion of the USJ seven months ago. A lot has changed since then and I've met some amazing people that have helped me turn my life around. I love them and, like, totally owe them my life. And I'm, like, incredibly grateful to Principal Nezu and Miss Midnight for giving me this opportunity," Yumei started. It wasn't a secret to anyone who she meant, especially as she beamed at her friends before turning and bowing respectfully to the principal and heroine behind her. She then turned and looked at Shinso for a few seconds as she continued with more grit to her voice. "That said, even though some of you here are, like, the most important people in the world to me, I have to agree with Shinso. Today, I'm not here for friends. I have a lot to make up for and I want to prove to everyone that I'm on the right path. Prove that I can become a hero just like all of you."

And with that, Yumei bowed to everyone, formally greeting them all. The cheers and claps she got weren't as awkward as Shinso's and the words chattering about were a bit more supportive and sympathetic even. Though, of course Monoma started muttering and chiding about UA letting a villain on campus. His soap box was short-lived however, as Suri was the one to chop him on the back of the neck this time, surprising Kendo who then gave both her and Yumei an apologetic smile before she dragged the blonde boy off.

"Right," Aizawa nodded and sighed. "Let's get to it then."

"Battle time," Vlad King declared, speaking into the microphone at the console he and Aizawa were standing next to. It was a small booth where the person at the console could adjust the cameras on the giant displays and relay commentary and play-by-play across the entire field's broadcasting system. "We'll have a series of matches pitting Class A against Class B. The battlefield will be one section of Ground Gamma per match. Each class will be split into teams of four and square off against each other."

"Four on four should be fun," Suri said and then grinned wide at Tokage who said practically the same thing she did at the same time. And for that they gave each other a deserved fist bump.

"With Shinso and Nagamaki, that makes 42. How do we account for them?" Iida thought out loud before turning the pointed question toward the teachers.

"Shinso and Nagamaki will be participating in two matches a piece, joining Class A for one and Class B for the other. That means four of the five matches will be five on four," Vlad King replied.

"Why split them like that though? It makes more sense to do two matches of five on five and have a pretty good balance in the matchups," Suri commented as she thought about the logistics of everything.

"That was what the teachers had in mind originally but I thought it would be more in favor of our guest students to split them this way," Principal Nezu replied.

"That doesn't seem fair to the four person teams in those matches," Tooru argued.

"It's actually quite the opposite," he happily corrected. "The four person team who has to incorporate the much less experienced fifth member of their team are at a massive disadvantage. Having five members will give you the numbers advantage, yes, but in reality, it's also a handicap."

"The scenario for today is Heroes Trying To Capture A Team of Villains, so think of the opposing team as villains. Capture the opposing team and you'll win the match," Vlad King said, laying out the basics of things.

"Each team's base has a wonderful cutesy-wutesey-lock-em'-up prison," Nezu explained happily as Vlad King pulled up the camera view of one of the cells onto the big screen. It wasn't a surprise that Nezu was especially happy with the prisons since they had visages of himself with fairly ominous quotes all over them. "What high stakes!"

"Capture four opponents to win, huh? Is that what you mean by handicap?" Bakugou asked.

"Yes," Aizawa answered directly. "Not only are Shinso and Nagamaki inexperienced, but the five person team they're on still loses if four members are captured."

"Tch! So that team's gotta fight carrying their deadweight? Fuckin' great," Bakugou sneered.

"Hey, that's a nasty way to phrase it," Kaminari said defensively.

"He's not wrong though," Shinso deadpanned.

"Now wait up, Yumei's been interning at The Outsiders Agency," Tooru retorted, sticking up for her friend. "She ain't deadweight!"

"Mina, I appreciate it but, Bakugou's right," the snake girl shrugged, smiling weakly. "Sure I have a little combat experience but nearly all of my work with Kodiak and DreamWeaver was behind the scenes office work and management."

"Like I said," Bakugou smirked, narrowing his eyes at the snake girl who gave him an equally unfriendly look right back. "Deadweight."

"Quiet down," Aizawa called out as he and Vlad King lifted up to boxes. "Time to draw lots."

One by one, each member of 1-A and 1-B went to their respective homeroom teachers and stuck their hands into the box they were holding. And one by one everyone discovered which team they were on and which match they'd be in. Of the foursome, Mina and Izuku got the luck of the draw getting paired with each other in Match 5. Both were more than excited to be teammates while Suri wound up teamed with Bakugou, Jirou, and Sero in Match 4 and Tooru got paired up with Momo, Tokoyami, and Aoyama in Match 2.

Then came Shinso and Yumei who drew lots for their matches. Shinso came up with being on Class A's team for Match 1 and Class B's team for Match 5. Both choices he seemed indifferent on. The snake girl on the other hand had a mix of excitement and fear when she brought up her lots as she got to team up with Tooru in Match 2 but got pitted against both Suri and Bakugou in Match 4.

And with that the matches started getting under way. It didn't surprise Suri that Yumei spent the next while, not avoiding her but not letting Suri get too close either. The snake girl spent the time between Match 1 getting prepped and to congregate with Momo, Tooru, Tokoyami, and Aoyama. It was smart to start working out a strategy before the first match started and all of their attention was turned to the big screens to watch the action. Everyone watched with intensity as Class B took the early upper hand by absolutely trashing Class A's defenses that led to both Koda and Kirishima getting caught. Though it probably pained Shiozaki to not only capture her boyfriend but throw him into the prison cell as well. Tsu was able to bounce Class A back into the running a little by capturing Tsuburaba so as far as a numbers game, it ended up being even. Then came the second half of the match where Class A went on the offensive and took the fight straight to Shishida, Shiozaki, and Rin. Kaminari was brazen enough to get himself captured but the strategy worked as the three quickly fell to Tsu and Shinso taking them by surprise, capturing Shiozaki and then knocking out Shishida and Rin at the same time.

Match 1 went to Class A in a decided victory despite getting hammered in the first half.

Suri's eyes then went to Tooru and Yumei who both stiffened with the end of the match. They didn't have time to congratulate their friends before they started making their way to the battlefield. It wasn't a surprise to anyone that the snake girl was by far the most nervous of the group. And for good reason.

That said, she was with Momo and Tooru so what could go wrong?

Answer; a lot.

Suri was left cringing and growling at the screens as she watched Match 2 play out. It started with Kuruiro hijacking Dark Shadow and attacking Tokoyami and the others. Tooru was able to get their opponent out of the shadow monster with a Warp Refraction but once he was able to get back into the shadows shit hit the fan again. Aoyama got kidnapped and dragged along for the ride. On the plus side, Tokoyami got to show off a new move he developed while working with Hawks at his Work Study. He was able to grab Aoyama back and a Naval Buffet put Vantablack out of commission for the time. Then giant concrete words started falling from the sky, one of which almost landed on Tooru before she was pushed out of the way by Yumei. Not to mention all of the mushrooms that started popping up literally everywhere thanks to Komori's Quirk. Tooru was made visible thanks to the swarm of fungi sprouting all over her and then Momo got separated from her by more of Fukidashi's Quirk.

It was apparent that Kendo's plan was to take Momo one on one, while the rest of the group was split up and left to fend for themselves. To her credit, Yumei took the time to focus and Suri watched the forked tongue of her go to work, scenting out her opponents. For some reason, the snake girl was unaffected by the mushrooms and was spared from having them grow on her. Even if they had grown on her they'd be quickly brushed away as she began rapidly slithering and weaving her way through the steel and concrete. It seemed her main focus was on Fukidashi who was using more of his word attacks to make the field more humid which was making the rapid growth of mushrooms even worse. Suri's view went back to Momo who had been fending off Kendo's giant fists before throwing her shields down and popping a cannon out of her body. She fired the cannon, sending a care package to Tokoyami and Tooru that included a set of thermal goggles for Tokoyami and antifungal disinfectant spray for him and Tooru allowing her to go completely invisible again. He went after Kuruiro and Komori at breakneck speed while Tooru managed to regroup with Yumei and they went after Fukudashi.

Fukidashi didn't stand a chance as Tooru started beating the ever living hell out of him before Yumei whipped him with her tail taking him off his feet and wrapped him in her coils. He was effectively captured and the two girls high fived before sitting down to plan their next attack. It was looking up for them because Tokoyami had just captured both of his targets, victorious in his endeavors. Up until he wasn't. He doubled over, coughing and gagging for breath while ultimately dropping his captives. Apparently Komori had grown some mushrooms that had poisonous spores and were making it impossible for Tokoyami to breathe. He was out of commission, leaving him and Aoyama captured. That same spore apparently found its way to Yumei, forcing her to either choose to try and breathe or keep Fukidashi captured and at that same moment Kendo appeared and grabbed Tooru. The giant fist squeezed the invisible girl hard enough that she too was forced to give up, even though Kendo was at a clear disadvantage. Apparently Momo's last ditch effort before getting taken out was to tie herself and the cannon to Kendo, forcing the Big Fist user to drag all of that deadweight around.

And just like that, Class B had won Match 2.

When the defeated members of Class A and Yumei returned to the viewing platform, the snake girl was taking the defeat the hardest. She was outright pissed at her performance while she nursed the lozenge that Komori had given her. It seemed to be helping with killing off whatever poisonous spores had invaded her respiratory system. Suri took the time to check on her girlfriend and best friend, patting both of them on the back and trying to be as encouraging as she possibly could.

"Hey, you got some good hits in. I mean, we had no idea that Komori could do that, right?" Suri offered, smiling weakly at the two of them.

"Ugh! Remind me to never go near mushrooms ever again," Tooru chirped, her fists balled tight in frustration. That was followed by several gagging noises as she thought about mushrooms.

"No," Yumei sighed and narrowed her eyes as she stared at a spot on the ground. "Dammit, I should have done more. Scouted more or something. And, like, I hate that the poison even got to me cause I'm resistant to a lot of poisons and venoms I've come across."

"Like I said-"

"Suri, I love you, like, seriously," Yumei started, holding a hand up to stop her friend from saying anything more. "I appreciate what you're trying to do but… we both know I wasn't good enough."

"Yumei," Tooru tried, taking her turn to comfort the snake girl while more of her friends came to her side to try and encourage her.

It only made the girl sigh and drop her head, her fists balling tightly in frustration.

"Look," she growled, making Suri, Tooru, Mina, Izuku, Kirishima, Shiozaki, Ochako, Tsu, and Kaminari back away from her a step or two. She looked up, fire in her eyes, at each of them before she took a deep breath. "Shinso isn't the only one who has something to prove and he did amazing in his first match. If he repeats that, he's going to be in the hero course for sure. For me, this is my test."

"What do you mean by that?" Izuku asked curiously as he pondered her statement.

"This is my entrance exam."

"WHAT?!" everyone exclaimed, their eyes shooting open wide with shock and surprise. The second wave of emotion was excitement for the girl to which she just shrugged them off and did her best to collect herself.

"I mean, it hasn't been stated outright, but yeah," Yumei answered.

"That makes sense why you're here today then," Suri nodded in acknowledgement. She pursed her lips then and looked up at her friend, "so you're being judged on your performance."

"And whether I do well or not will, like, determine if I make it into the hero course on recommendations next year," the snake girl finished. "So I have to do my best. I have to prove that me being here isn't a mistake and Alexie didn't waste his last few months as a pro hero. I have his honor riding on this and I have to do right by him. And by you, Suri."

"Yumei," Suri sighed, curling her lip into a weak, appreciative smile.

"It's a draw!"

Everyone turned to look up at the big screens to find the end result of Match 3; a draw. Shoji and Pony were the only ones left standing and had run the clock out while most everyone else was down for the count. Seeing the end result and knowing the next match was set to begin soon, Yumei turned to Suri and held out a fist.

"This is it," the snake girl said in soft anticipation.

Suri watched the girl's fist for a moment before smirking, balling her fist and bumping her best friend on the knuckles.

"Don't you dare hold back on me, Suri," Yumei said, narrowing her eyes into a glare at the beast girl. "Win or lose, I still love ya to death. But, like, if you pull any of your punches, I'm gonna wrap you up and strangle ya."

"Deal," Suri snickered. "So it's gonna be a rematch from when we first met?"

"Yup," Yumei nodded before turning her back on her friends and slithering her way to her team who were already waiting for her. "And this time, I'm gonna kick your ass!"

Suri snickered and shook her head as she turned around to face everyone else. Their faces were a mix of worry and anticipation for what was to come. But of course, they knew what Yumei said was the truth. She'd always love Suri and be her best friend but she would be one angry snake if Suri didn't take her seriously. And lucky for her, Suri was more than fired up as she bashed her fist against an open palm, blew her lovers a kiss, and then turned back to go and join Bakugou, Sero, and Jirou.

The fire in Yumei's eyes reminded her of herself the morning of her own Entrance Exams and she couldn't help but be happy for her best friend. And just like that morning, Suri was ready to take on the challenge ahead, only this time Suri was going to be Yumei's zero pointer. It made Suri grin even wider, bearing more fangs as she began to let out a hearty laugh and a cheer towards her waiting teammates.

"Let's fuckin' go!"