Hello once again, everyone. I realize that last weeks' chapter may not be many peoples' favorites, as it was primarily served to strengthen Kolyas' relationship with some of his more overlooked classmates, while also providing some potential planning abilities for him to work on, much like how our boy Deku has been forced to in his experiences. As i mentioned previously, I also wanted to avoid any extensive time gaps in this narrative, and that chapter was also made to serve that purpose as well. However, I've come to believe that if something provides for the strengthening or development of one or more characters, that by definition doesn't make it filler, so that's the theory I hope to continue to go by.
As such, this chapter officially gets us back into more familiar territory, while also serving as a natural continuation of the inter-character development last weeks' chapter provided. However, fret not, because next week we get back into the action, so without sounding desperate, I only ask that you all remain patient. MHA thrives off the strength of its characters, not just action.
Anyway, with that all being said, I hope you all find something you might gravitate towards with this chapter, and I hope you enjoy what I've provided you here this time around. I've come to find that when I ask people to take the time to leave an honest review to express their thoughts on the story thus far, aside from a few regulars, pretty much no one says anything, so I'm not going to ask this time around, see if that somehow changes things, because I do value my readers' feedback, but I don't want to have to strong-arm people into reviewing my work. I want it to come naturally in its own time, at its own pace.
Also, I would like to announce that I am officially having artwork for this story made, primarily chapter covers, much akin to a manga, and the occasional dialogue-free comic page here and there to visualize key moments, but that won't come as often. The cover art you all may have noticed is just one such piece I've had made from a very talented artist called 'syyndev' whom I strongly recommend you all check out, because their artwork is very high quality and very well made. In time, I'm hoping to put these artworks and covers up on my page with the chapters corresponding to them, in order to reach a wider audience. I'm waiting until a good number of chapter covers have been made before I start putting them up, but if you'd all like to check them out, I'll let you know when I start putting them up, and you can all go to my page to see them with your own eyes.
My Hero Academia is the property of Kouhei Horikoshi and Shonen Jump. I only own my original characters, the original events surrounding them, and the alterations of established events that occur as a result of their existence in this universe.
I'd also like to once again give a commemorative thank you to my beta reader, Mizu Hikikomori, for their continuous support despite real life needing their attentions elsewhere. Every bit of support from everyone helps more than you can ever know.
A/N: [[]] denotes that characters are contextually speaking in Russian.
Chapter 31
Study Group
(Группа По Изучению)
Monday, June 24th
With the arrival of the last week of June, and the cemented knowledge that the final exams, the end-of-term test, was now officially no more than a week away; all of Class 1-A was rife with both eagerness…and anxiety, of just what was awaiting them that was going to determine not only where they now officially stood academically, but whether or not they were going to make it to the forest lodge for the summer.
It was virtually all the students could possibly talk about, whether it was speculation of what the test would involve, or how they felt about their chances when thinking back to the grades they had gotten during the midterms in mid-May, with every student pretty much carrying their overall ranking out of all 21 students that made up 1-A hanging over their heads like either a badge of honor, or a stigma of failure.
However, amid all the chatter and buzz, Nikolay was actually seated by himself, miraculously keeping himself disconnected from what everyone else around him was saying, instead simply waiting for Mina to arrive in class so they could hopefully get the day going. However, he wasn't simply sitting and twiddling his thumbs.
No, instead the young Russian was curiously looking over a little something he kept rolling around in his hands in quiet anticipation, something he had found actually waiting for him in his personal shoe locker when he had arrived at school that morning.
Sitting atop his school shoes, had been another one of those tiny devices he now knew as an MP3 player, with a single handwritten note attached that simply read: 'Sorry it took so long to get this to you this time. I had to really pick and choose what I thought you might be ready for. Well, when you get the chance to listen, hopefully you can find something you can really gravitate towards. Feel free to come to me with requests whenever. I may or may not do the same for you, if you don't mind, of course. –Jirou Kyouka
Of course Nikolay was excited to see what new selections this little addition to his musical library would contain, courtesy of Kyoukas' surprisingly continuous show of generosity. However, before he could try sneaking his ear buds out of his book bag and plugging them in so he could hopefully get just a taste before class proper would start, the classroom door opened, filling him with instinctive relief to see a brightly smiling Mina stepping in; her hands resting behind her head in a visible show of overall confidence…only to be followed by an utterly downtrodden-looking Denki, whose head was hung low as he barely managed to drag his feet behind him.
"Whoa, Kaminari, what's got you of all people looking so down?" Rikido asked the moment he saw how close to keeling over the blonde sparkplug looked.
Once he and Mina respectively came to a stop, Denki threw his head back up, his yellow eyes and the rest of his face reflecting nothing but total horror as he screamed: "I HAVEN'T STUDIED AT AAAAALL!" As half the class gave likewise exclamations of disbelief at his total show of carelessness, Mina couldn't help but giggle confidently to herself.
"Between the Sports Festival and the whole internship week, I never stopped to actually study! What the hell am I gonna do?!" Denki (21/21) continued on, completely deaf to his pink classmates' cocky-sounding laughter.
"Ashido-san, what could you possibly have to be laughing at? It's not like your midterm grades were that much better than his." Fumikage (14/21) asked in a rather scolding manner, to which Mina (17/21) remained undeterred.
"Yeah, that's true, but they're still better than how I did on the written part of the Entrance Exam, and that's good enough for me. I just started trying to cram since last Saturday, but I'm still feeling pretty good as far as English goes. Those detention periods actually really helped me and Kolya-kun out a lot with that."
Unfortunately, Nikolay (16/21) couldn't bring himself to simply let his desk-mate and partner just brush off Fumikages' point like that. "Just because we're only doing a little better in English and Quirk History doesn't mean we aren't still in trouble with a lot of our other classes, though, Mina. We're only just ahead of Kaminari-san, Aoyama-san (20/21), Sero-san (19/21) and Hagakure-san (18/21). We're both still on the bottom half of the entire class grade-wise."
As much as he hated having to visibly deflate Minas' confidence like that, it at least was making her see the overall point, as they both started looking over the rest of their classmates, unable to help but just recall all their mid-term rankings this time around as they did so. In regards to his closer friends, Eijirou was barely ahead of Nikolay himself, sitting not-so comfortably at (15/21), while Ochako was currently nestled in (13/21). To nobody's surprise, Momo was ranked (1/21) above all else, with Tenya resting just behind at (2/21), followed in rapid succession by Bakugo in (3/21), Izuku at (4/21) and Shoto at (5/21).
"Yeah, it sure is tough that there's gonna be a practical test exercise included in the exams, too. I guess that's gonna be you meatheads' best bet of making the final cut. Too bad; really." Minoru (9/21) made absolutely no attempt to even try and stay quiet, instead boasting his confidence in his current grade for pretty much all the class to hear, while still being too much of a chicken to actually look any of the lower grade students in the eye as he did so.
Good thing for him, too, as Denki, Mina and Nikolay were both glaring angrily at the snarky dwarf among them. "What the heck, Mineta, I thought you were one of us!" Mina exclaimed, putting on an air as if they'd just been stabbed in the back, with Denki likewise not missing a beat: "Yeah, man, don't you know pervy little creeps like you are supposed to be the lovable idiot character-type? Who's gonna even want you now?"
Nikolay had to keep his own words to himself, otherwise he knew he'd likely start breaking into a rapid fire utterance of Russian curse words at Minorus' arrogant taunting under his breath. The fact that they now knew what the written portion of the final exam was going to consist of was reassuring enough, however the fact that they still didn't know what the details of this physical test were going to be, simply left them as anxious as ever before.
However, as though they couldn't even sense the shared stress hanging over their heads, Izuku, Tenya and Shoto approached the trio with an inspirational smile, that official air of determination, and that ever-present air of calm and cool respectively.
"Ashido-san, Kaminari-san, Kolya-san, try not to let yourselves get too discouraged, okay? Let's all just keep doing our very best, all right? I mean, I want to go to the forest lodge with everyone just as much as you guys, right?" As bright-eyed and inspirational as Izukus' encouragement for them was, alongside the overbearing proclamation of a supportive "YEAH," from Tenya; Shoto simply stating to Denki that he wouldn't have failing grades if he just attended classes regularly, put more than a damper on the trio as a whole.
However, while Denki and Mina were both telling Shoto to mind his words with the huge disparity between their grades, Nikolay was still trying his best to try and hang on to what semblance of a chance there still was for them. "We are trying our best, though, you guys. We all want to go, me especially. I've never been to anything like a forest lodge before, and being able to go with the whole class makes me want to get there more than anything."
However, the Russian boy then quickly planted his chin on the desk in anxious despair. "But I just can't shake this feeling like at least one of us isn't going to make it. With how strict Aizawa-sensei is, I wouldn't be surprised if he bars all three of us from going because our grades aren't good enough. I don't know what else we could do to better our chances with just a week left."
With the swiftness of a bullet, Minoru suddenly dashed across the classroom, slapping a single hand on Nikolays' half of the desk, snapping him right back to attention, surprised to see an especially fierce glimmer in the diminutive boys' eyes. "If help studying for the final exam is what you need, I'd be more than happy to provide my services, comrade! After all, it's the duty of any true appreciator of adolescence to help his fellow young men achieve everything they truly want out of their high school life!"
Nikolay was on one hand grateful for Minorus' offer of help, while on the other hand very off-put by what exactly such a grandiose statement was really supposed to mean. And that look of question was unmistakable, as Minoru jumped up and hooked an arm over his shoulders, practically hanging on while losing none of his bravado. "Oh come now, you don't have to feign ignorance with me, comrade! You want to go to that forested nirvana for the open air baths, don't you? There's no shame in admitting so, any healthy boy like me would want to go for the same reason! When else will we ever get a chance to gaze upon the uncovered natural beauty of our female peers in all their glory?"
Nikolay felt a disgusted lump rise up in his throat as he pried Minoru off like he was covered in leeches. "That's not what I want to go for, Mineta-san! I want the whole high school summer experience, just like everybody else described!"
Of course, Nikolays' flustered exclamation did not go unnoticed by the class president, as Tenya was immediately on the scene, staring down intensely at Minoru. "You need to learn to speak of and treat our female classmates with a great deal more respect, Mineta-san! Consider yourself lucky you only got off with an audio jack to the eye for that stunt you pulled in the locker rooms."
Tenya once again proved the Hero of the moment, as he proceeded to carry Minoru by the collar back to his desk while Nikolay let out a sigh of relief that conversation didn't get any more uncomfortable than it already had. However, having likewise overheard his desire to experience everything the forest lodge summer would potentially provide them, Mina likewise hurried over to the scene, eagerly taking her place at their desk while pumping one of her fists in the air in that tell-all show of excitement she always had. "Heck yeah, you're gonna get the full summer experience, Kolya-kun! If any one of us bottom tier students can pull it off, I'll bet it's you! It's gonna be so much fun! Getting to stay up all night with tasty food, awesome games, maybe even getting to go to a festival and watching fireworks! There's nothing else like it!"
Just listening to Mina describe it made Nikolay wish more and more that the final exams were already over and they could just pack their things and go now. However, just seeing the anticipatory look in his green eyes made Mina grin with excitement of her own, as she suddenly hooked her arm over his shoulders; pulling him in close while clutching the short sleeve of his uniform with her free hand. "There won't be a moment wasted, Kolya-kun! There are all kinds of things we'll be able to do once we get there, but no matter what, we're playing truth or dare together! There's nothing like challenge games with friends to make for an awesome summer!"
Once again, the idea of him and Mina playing such a game together, knowing what little he did know about it, made Nikolay swallow the lump in his throat nervously, never noticing how Mina was looking at several of the boys and the rest of the girls in eagerness. "But…what happens if I manage to pass and you don't, Mina? I don't know how I'd feel if I knew I was getting to do all that stuff and you weren't."
Minas' sunshine-y smile flinched a tiny bit, knowing he had a very valid reason to consider the possibility. As confident as she felt in her barely passable grasp of their English material, they were both still in the lower tier of their whole class, and she didn't have the kind of unbreakable devotion towards studying under pressure like Nikolay did. However, the thought of getting to share in his first true summer experience was too good a possibility for her to pass up, hence that glow to her smile came right back. "Well, don't you worry, Kolya-kun, cause we're both gonna make it, you'll see! Yeah, studying is boring and lame, but if that's what it's gonna take to make it to that forest lodge, then I, Ashido Mina, will cram it into every last minute of the week if I have to!"
Nikolay visibly appreciated Minas' reassurance and completely forced show of dedication and confidence, but that didn't change the reality that their grades were ultimately far from acceptable, especially in the eyes of someone like Aizawa, and they only had a week to get ready enough to tackle the final exam with any degree of a chance; a body of time he had come to realize could easily pass in the blink of an eye without anything constructive having been accomplished.
"Hey, you three." The gentle, sophisticated voice of their class' vice president, Momo, suddenly spoke up from her desk, catching Nikolay, Mina and Denkis' attention as she was clearly nervous, yet still trying to put on an air of complete confidence. "I might be able to assist all of you with the classroom lecture stuff for the written test, if nothing else."
Mina especially looked like she was about ready to throw herself on the ground and kiss Momos' feet for such a miracle of an offer, practically crying out her nickname of "YAOMOMO, YOU'RE THE BEST," in gratitude. If they could get studying help from the student with top grades in their class, then there was no possible way they could lose. Although, while they were in the middle of relishing in their good fortune, none of them noticed how Momo slightly bowed her head away from everyone, softly muttering: "The test exercise, on the other hand, maybe not so much…"
However, she quickly noticed that she was no longer alone at her desk, as not only was she now being crowded and thanked profusely by Nikolay, Mina and Denki, but now also Hanta, Mashirao Ojiro (8/21) and Kyouka (7/21) as well, all eagerly asking for the very same help; a realization that left the pony-tailed girl speechless yet sparkly-eyed with gratitude and willingness to do just that, before loudly proclaiming "ABSOLUTELY!".
"Hey, what happened with you though, Kolya-san? You were busting me, Ashido and Kirishimas' chops over the last few weeks to get on studying, yet you're looking just as sweaty and nervous as I was. Yeah, your overall grades aren't that great, but you're a hell of a lot more capable of getting ahead of the game. What, you lose your groove at some point overnight?" Denki asked once all the excited cheering of their newly confirmed study group had subsided, to which Nikolay just sighed in self-disappointment.
"Actually, that's exactly what happened. Last Friday, Midoriya-san gave me some of his personal notes in relation to my Quirk, with some ideas of new moves I could try doing that would give me more of an edge in Hero work, as well as some pointers how I can keep my bases covered next time I'm in a fight. I've been so focused on all that the last two days; I've been completely slacking on my actual school studies. You're right, my grades haven't been as high as they could be to begin with, but I don't want us to fall by the wayside any more than we already have, dammit!"
"Well, if your grades have been pretty crappy to begin with, it doesn't really sound like you've got much place to say anyone else is falling by the wayside, Bezpalov-san." Hanta pointed out, clearly having not meant any ill-will by it, judging by the constant toothy grin on his face, but that didn't stop Kyouka and Mina both from nudging him in the arms for clearly not helping the mood.
"I think what Sero-san is trying to say, is that you sound like you want to take some of the reins on this, but how do you plan on doing that if you need to focus on picking your own grades back up?" Kyouka asked much more bluntly. It was certainly a fairly loaded question, but now that he was in a state of total seriousness, Nikolay found himself quite quick with the answer.
"Well, I just sort of figured this study group could be like a kind of give-and-take kind of thing, where we all equally try to help each other out with subjects we feel fairly confident in, that others might not be so much. I mean, Jirou-san, you said English was one of your favorite subjects in middle school, so you and Yaoyorozu-san could both help us out with that. In exchange, you said you're struggling with mathematics, world history and science. I'm not very good at math either, but I do know a good deal of elemental science to help you all memorize yourselves with the material. I mean, not to come across like a propaganda distributor, but Russians did invent the periodic table of elements, and it's pretty much been drilled in our heads since grammar school, along with at least a few standard equations, so that's the least I could be able to do. And I know a lot about history, so Yaoyorozu-san and I could easily be able to help all of you with that. We might both be able to help fill in certain topics that the other might not be so confident in, even."
Kyouka looked fairly impressed with how confident the normally soft-spoken Russian sounded right now, an undeniably grateful smile on her usually bored-looking face, same from Mashirao as well. Denki and Mina, meanwhile, simply looked at him and Momo alike, as if they were both their Heroes of the day; and Momo herself looked intrigued yet likewise grateful that even when he was academically at a low point himself, Nikolay wasn't afraid to still step up and try to take some kind of responsibility for himself and others, like any real potential Hero would.
"Okay, so that covers English, math, science and history, of which I'm assuming you mean both regular world history and Quirk history; but what about modern art or classical literature?" Hantas' disagreement came not from doubt in Nikolay or Momos' capabilities, but rather his own anxiety, as nobody had expressed any kind of confidence in those particular subjects yet, and they were easily the ones he was doing the worst at, everyone in class pretty much knew that.
"Well, I can certainly be able to assist you all with the subject matter relating to classic Japanese, American and Western European literature, however I haven't had as much exposure or time to really master much of the Eastern European selections we've been assigned this term." Momo admitted, only for Nikolay to practically light up in return.
"That won't be a problem, Yaoyorozu-san. My Dad has read me excerpts from a lot of classic Russian novels over the years, and I've been slowly but steadily picking up the pieces of the rest since then from time to time. I may not be an expert, but I can at least try to give you all some answers from a native perspective on the extractions our books have for us to work with."
Kyouka, Mina, Mashirao, Hanta and Denki both looked like they were about ready to collapse with relief, clearly having been feeling utterly wiped across the floor by those particular selections especially, never mind the classic Western works they had to contend with on top of that. Truly, Momo and Nikolay had miraculously found a way to cover all their most difficult bases. With the silent exchange of a grateful and confident smile and a nod with the class' vice president, Nikolay for once felt like they could actually recover from their shared academic failings with this new study group idea.
When lunch break finally rolled around, Momo had taken the liberty to invite as many of the confirmed members of their new study group, and any potentially interested others, to accompany her to eat out in one of the many outdoor communal areas of the school. Thankfully it was one of the milder days of late June, so Nikolay had no reason to dread the afternoon heat.
Besides, any day where he got to finally partake in homemade shashlik was a good day by any definition. A pleasant lunch, accompanied by Mina, Momo, Denki, Kyouka and even Eijirou, despite not being in their group, sounded exceptionally nice. At least, that had been the original idea when they had all gathered at their table under the shade of an especially vibrantly green tree. The moment Nikolay had opened his box and his study-mates all caught whiff of the (for some, very familiar) scent, Mina, Eijirou and Denki each snatched a stick for themselves, ultimately leaving their resident Slav with only two.
Of course, seeing the delight on all their faces as they partook did bring its own sense of satisfaction in the end.
"All right, everyone, since we're now gathered and properly nourished, I think it's a good chance for us to discuss the final exams next week." Momo finally opened up once she was sure everyone was in a good enough head space that they could finally begin discussing things seriously. "Now, we already know that the written portion of the exam is going to generally consist of samples of all our general education and other lecture-based subjects. I think it would be a good idea for us all to properly identify our strengths and weaknesses so we can know what to dedicate the most time to each day."
Thankfully, this part was easy for everyone involved to answer, as Momo essentially had no weaknesses other than a slightly lesser all-around grasp of Russian classic literature, as she had previously admitted. Kyouka sounded the most confident in English, while she was severely lacking in math, science and history, both regular and Quirk-related. Nikolay and Mina both announced at least a slightly better grasp of English than Denki, but Mina also admitted a complete lack of understanding for all classic literature, math, science and world history, while Nikolay once again affirmed his overall grasp of science, and both forms of history and Russian literature, while still lacking in a good majority of English, and mathematics. As for Denki, he pretty much admitted defeat on every single subject there was to discuss.
"All right, we have a great number of hurdles to get over throughout this week. However, I know we can all overcome them together in time for the test, so long as you all pay attention, study every chance you can get outside of our group hours, and be sure to ask each other for help in those times if you ever come across anything you're having difficulty tackling by yourselves. This is not a time to become stubborn and prideful, thinking you need to be able to get through this on your own. Heroes need to be able to work together and communicate efficiently with each other if they are to have any chance at succeeding at anything. I know I probably shouldn't have to remind you of this especially, Bezpalov-san, Ashido-san, and Kaminari-san. However, this is very different from a battle, but in other ways it's very similar. Work together and communicate properly with one another, and even with your previously established difficulties and less than stellar grades, I am confident you can all help each other succeed."
Momos' speech after they had all gone over their strengths and weaknesses was nothing short of awe-inspiring, nothing less than what they expected from their handy class vice president.
However, that still did nothing for what was still the biggest dark cloud looming over their heads at that point: the practical exercise test.
"I mean, I wouldn't be feeling so stressed if we at least had some idea what that portion's going to involve." Nikolay admitted once the subject had finally come up, with Mina, Eijirou and Denki eagerly agreeing, while Momo was deep in thought.
"Well, considering the whole final exam is to test and see exactly how much we've learned over this part of the school year, I can't imagine it wouldn't generally revolve around everything we've been taught throughout all the different tests we've been put through this year: Battle, Rescue, basic Hero combat tactics and teamwork compatibility." Momo sounded a shred confident in this theory, but she knew it was ultimately nothing more than that, and it wasn't helping her study peers any.
"Man, it sucks. I need to know if I'm gonna be able to go all out when that test comes, ahead of time. If I need to try and dial my Quirk back because I'm fighting an actual person, I need to have time to prepare myself for it. I'm not able to just adapt on the fly." Denki vented, while Mina just threw her head back and arms up in frustration.
"Yeah, same here! I have to constantly try and keep my Quirk in check so I don't end up accidentally hurting anyone really bad, if not worse!" In response to both hers and Denkis' frustrated laments, Kyouka and Eijirou both looked visibly surprised.
"Wait, but you guys were all caught up in that huge battle with that Villain; you were able to go all out then, right? I mean, the guy sounded pretty hardcore, how else would you have managed to beat him if you weren't going all out then?"
However, Eijirous' questions were only answered with more annoyed groans from the two. "I still had to keep trying to hold the maximum brunt of my Electricity back so I didn't end up accidentally killing the guy. Took every ounce of concentration I had, while also trying not to short circuit my brain again." "Yeah, and the only reason I used my Acid was to melt away the armor he was wearing, and get rid of that awful mechanical leg of his. The rest of the fight, I couldn't rely on it, and had to get up close and personal with the guy."
Mentioning that memory, Mina instinctively began reaching up her left arm where the scar from her one wound sustained in that fight normally would have been, had it not been for Recovery Girl. Still, even if the wound had completely healed, the terror and pain attached to it clearly hadn't for Mina; not from where Nikolay was sitting.
"What about you, Bezpalov-san? You're looking rather thoughtful right now. Do you have any grievances you'd like to get off your chest? You sounded quite sure of yourself when you offered to assist in our study group, after all." Momo asked when she saw the seriously glimmer in his green eyes as he saw what Mina was instinctively doing.
Realizing he was now on the spot, he let out an exhausted sigh as he tried to figure out where to even start. "Yeah…I did, and I want to help in whichever way I think I can, but…for as much as I want to be able to just focus on studying for the written test, I know I need to keep on top of my training for the practical test, too. On top of trying to find a balance between those two things, I still haven't been able to stop thinking about what happened between me and Bakugo at the Rescue Race exercise.
"Ever since, I've been trying to find a way to be able to focus on different approaches to what I want to try and do; I've been calling it 'multi-planning'. Over the last few weeks, I thought I was figuring out how to do that, focusing on what the other people I'm up against are likely to do, just so I don't get thrown off my course like that again. And yet, because I've been so focused on that, I let my regular studies get away from me. So I either focus on studying and slack off on my training, or I focus on training and let my regular studies suffer. I'm not sure what to do; I thought I was finally starting to get it figured out. How is anybody able to balance two things so hugely important all at once?"
For a good minute, as he looked from one face to another, Nikolay felt his heart sink to see that nobody had the answer he was looking for to his weeks-long dilemma of balance and improvement. To see the same look of defeat or cluelessness in their eyes, nearly made him want to simply collapse face first into the table and just let the air of hopelessness hang over his head.
However, a momentary "Hmm" of contemplation from Momo stopped him from doing so, as he slowly lifted his head to see her very deep in thought, before her cat-like eyes finally met his, with a glint of realization reflected in them. "Well, I understand that things like studying methods, beliefs and philosophy are incredibly subjective, Bezpalov-san. However, since you clearly are looking for outside perspective, allow me to at least tell you what I believe.
"You see, I am personally of the belief that one can figure out the means to 'multi-plan', as you put it, by simply looking at every prospective obstacle at its most basic foundational form, and gradually build up the list of possible scenarios they will potentially encounter when facing it, and building up a further list of potential strategies they can use in order to surpass it. To illustrate exactly what I mean, try to imagine a fight between two individuals, like if it were yourself and Bakugo-san.
"If you just go in blindly, flailing around on complete impulse and hoping to somehow score a hit, let alone a victory, you're only setting yourself up for defeat. If you go into that fight knowing everything that you can do in a given situation, but not knowing what your opponent is going to do, then while you may at least have the advantage of self-reflection, you ultimately come no closer to victory, because you're only acting on half the knowledge needed in order to succeed.
"However, if you are aware of the most basic things you know your opponent can do, then you can at least have a rudimentary idea of what you can do to counteract that. However, simply going off of the details that you know to be concrete fact, still prevents you from being able to fully control the situation and obtain victory. Understanding how your opponent acts on instinct is well and good, but you must also approach the situation by painting a number of hypotheticals in your head, and figuring out how to react and counteract those as well.
"It doesn't matter if it's how you react to their actions, or how they react to yours, and how you subsequently react to those reactions. If you can get inside your opponents' head and figure out exactly how they think and how they're prone to react to certain scenarios, then you have the chance to come up with any number of alternatives to get around anything they can potentially throw at you. Don't allow yourself to be caught by surprise, and your opponent can never get the advantage over you.
"The same general principal can also be applied to regular studying, because all obstacles, all things you encounter in general in life, all have an irrefutable base foundation for you to work off of. Once you identify that foundation and branch out into the numerous subjects it can turn into, and expand your number of potential subsequent reactions and approaches to all those different subjects as they branch further and further out, your overall mastery over that subject becomes more secure. Try to envision the entire observation and solution-forming process as though you were drawing a vast family tree from the ground up."
As Momo finally finished up her extensive theorizing speech, taking a deep breath in order to re-steady her breathing after having gotten so wrapped up in it, everyone at the table looked at her like she was a veritable goddess of endless wisdom. However, none reflected this look of astonished realization quite like Nikolay. What he had struggled for weeks to try and understand, she had effectively solved in less than five minutes. For all his introspection on expanding his thinking, he only now realized just how still utterly narrow-minded he had kept himself in that process.
He had been so focused on trying to expand his own range of reactions and strategies to his obstacles, that he hadn't even thought of not only taking into consideration what he knew for a fact outside forces could do, but also hypothesizing what they had the potential to do or not do, and how to act around those possibilities, thus giving him an almost infinite number of scenarios to act off of. It was psychological multi-tasking to a Holmes-esque degree, but there was no denying the usefulness it had the potential to have for him if he found a way to successfully adopt it into his mental repertoire in the challenges to come. For now, he needed to secure this philosophy of Momos' in mind, and try applying it to the general studies end of this whole dilemma, and from there, if it panned out in his favor, he could already imagine how he could be able to apply it to further training with and perfecting his Quirk, potential new techniques and all.
Perhaps if he ever found himself unfortunate enough to end up in Bakugos' crosshairs again, he could actually be able to completely figure the hotheads' way of fighting out down to the letter, and finally be able to effectively stand up to him at last.
"Well, I guess now's as good a time as ever to say it, since Kolya-san brought the guy up. I'm actually gonna have Bakugo tutoring me in preparation for the test, myself." Eijirou suddenly admitted with considerable confidence, only for nearly everyone (except Momo) to look at him like he'd officially lost his mind.
"Are you serious, Kiri? Even after what he did to you; after what you've seen him do to Midori-kun, Urara-chan and Kolya-kun?" Mina exclaimed in total disbelief, with Nikolays' expression almost perfectly mirroring her own. "Yeah, why the hell would you actually approach that psycho after all that? How do you know he isn't going to just spend the whole time beating you down again?"
And yet, even in the wake of such all around skepticism, if not outright fear for his own safety, Eijirou remained just as resolved, if not even a degree truly confident. "Well, I think it's just like Tunguska-sensei said back at the Rescue Race: it's totally okay to let yourself feel intense emotions, just so long as you don't get weighed down by them. I mean, yeah, the guys' done some really crappy things so far this year, but I'm making a point not to hold grudges or hard feelings. Who knows; this might be a chance to finally help him warm up to me. That might be just what it takes to finally get him to lighten up on everybody else. It's gotta be worth a shot, right?"
The confidence; or perhaps just childlike optimism on display from Eijirou earned him some especially admiring looks from Denki, Momo, Kyouka and Mina, who by now looked rather contemplative, herself. "Yeah, it's gotta be! That's a really cool attitude to have, Kiri! I mean, I've never held grudges or hard feelings towards anyone before…and honestly, I don't ever want to start! Yeah, right now I might not like Bakugo as much as I do everybody else, but I'm sure if his attitude were to get a lot better, it'd be different! I don't want to hold the crappy stuff he's done against him; I want us all to be able to be friends, more than anything!"
Likewise, Minas' follow-up declaration of all-around peace and friendship among the whole class drew an approving smile from Momo and a likewise admiring gaze from Eijirou and Nikolay alike. Of course, the Russian boy couldn't gaze at her with the deep respect in his eyes for too long, before Minas' attention returned to him, and with another sunny smile, she immediately went right into another bout of her playful teasing as she pulled him in closer by the neck into what looked like a cross between a hug and a headlock, lightly mussing up his thick brown hair with her fingers as she giggled in amusement.
"But still, that doesn't change just how steamed I get when he bullies you, Kolya-kun! If you had to kick Bakugos' ass just once before we all became friends, I'd understand." Denki and Kyouka couldn't help but start barely restraining their laughter at what had become such a typical display of Minas' friendly teasing of one of her best friends, before she finally let Nikolay go, after which he immediately start fixing up his hair, with a barely visible attempt at a smile on the corner of his mouth.
"You and Kirishima-san are both right. I don't want to resent anybody; I've lived enough of my life feeling nothing but resentment. Yet, no matter what happens, Bakugo still calls me weak; says I can't do anything. If something doesn't change between us soon…I can't help but feel like things are going to really come to a head; and if not between him and me, then definitely between him and Midoriya-san. I just can't shake that feeling."
Before anyone could offer a reply, Nikolays' stomach suddenly let out a pronounced growl, much to his blushing embarrassment. "Sorry, but I seriously need to eat. But please, don't let me interrupt. We need to figure out how we're tackling this week of studying, so please continue, Yaoyorozu-san."
As Nikolay grabbed one of the two remaining shashlik sticks from his lunch container, he silently reminded himself this would prove to at least be enough to give him the energy needed for the rest of the day if nothing else, depending if there were going to be any exceptional exercises for them to do later. As he finally began to take his first bite, his ear caught the sound of something flying through the air, coming up behind him, and coming in fast.
In a split second, a blur practically flew right past the left side of Nikolays' head, snatching the stick of vegetables and meat from right out of his grasp. As he and nearly everyone else at the table jumped in surprise and spun to see who was dropping in on them like this, he, Mina and Denki felt a wave of recognition and relief hit them to find Setsuna Tokage standing at just the edge of their spot; the shashlik stick clutched in her clearly smiling mouth as the whole lower half of her face and neck reattached itself to the rest of her body.
"I thought I saw some familiar faces over here. Man, I haven't seen you guys since the Sunday internships ended. Hmm, not half bad." Setsuna greeted as she began eagerly making her way over while taking her first bite; her dark green eyes reflecting genuine impression at the taste of the food she had practically just stolen.
Nikolay, Mina and Denki practically shot up from their seats and ran to greet their friend from 1-B with an enthusiastic group hug she gladly returned, before they just as quickly noticed she likewise wasn't alone. No, this time Setsuna was accompanied by two other girls; one with shoulder-length, bob-shaped black hair, cerulean eyes and a completely neutral expression on her face that was a tiny bit off-putting; and one who was notably shorter, with light brown hair in a similar bob-shape that went just past her notably narrow shoulders, and a considerably long fringe that obscured her eyes, meaning the only part of her face showing was a noticeably large mouth.
"Oh, let me introduce you guys. These are my classmates, Kodai Yui-chan and Komori Kinoko-chan." Setsuna immediately stepped in once she saw the curious looks on her friends' faces, already beckoning her two quiet classmates over. "Come on over, you guys. These are the 1-A students I was telling you about, the ones I fought that Villain with. This is Nikolay Bezpalov-kun, Ashido Mina-chan and Kaminari Denki-kun."
While the two girls, Yui and Kinoko, timidly stepped forward in a show of greeting, neither of them looked to either have the willingness or confidence to speak up, even when Nikolay, Mina and Denki stepped forward to greet them likewise, with Eijirou even beginning to get up from his seat behind them to get in on the action. Mina, as to be expected, was all smiles as she looked like she was just one step away from simply grasping both girls' hands to eagerly shake them in introduction. "Hi, I'm Ashido Mina! I hope you don't mind me saying, but any friend of Setsu-chan is a friend of mine!"
Setsuna couldn't help but chuckle in amusement, both at her impromptu nickname, and at just how truly open and forwardly friendly Mina was, as always, but she likewise couldn't help but snicker when she saw the mildly embarrassed look on her face when her offer of friendship was only met with that same awkward silence from her classmates. "Don't take it personally, Mina-chan. Yui-chan and Kinoko-chan aren't really the talkative type with anybody they don't know very well."
Before anyone else could say anything, Nikolays' stomach suddenly began growling once more, grabbing everyones' attention once more, to his visible embarrassment. "Sorry. I haven't had a chance to eat yet. We've been busy discussing how we wanna carry our study group this week," he hurriedly explained, while also trying to inch his way back to the table to at least eat his last measly shashlik stick while there was still time.
However, just as he was about to start reaching for it, he caught the black-haired girl, Yui, out the corner of his eye, just as she snatched the last stick herself, just out of his reach as he looked on with an exceptionally devastated look on his face. "Oh, come on, the others have already been taken!"
Without any hesitation, she suddenly handed it right back, but the moment Nikolay took it back, looking quite surprised all the while, Yui suddenly brought her fingertips together, and before his eyes, the whole thing suddenly began to grow in his grip until he had to actually make an effort to keep carrying it in one hand from the sudden increase in weight.
Everyone was visibly surprised to see this sudden showcase of what was clearly Yui's Quirk, but with likewise lack of hesitation, Kinoko suddenly came in as well, rustling through her backpack before pulling out what looked like a common spray bottle of water, and spraying a little bit on the table itself, before she then began rubbing her fingertips over the wet spot, almost as though she were sprinkling something microscopic or invisible onto it. All the while, those that watched carefully enough would have been able to see Kinoko was barely muttering something to herself as she did this, quiet enough to be downright unnoticeable to everyone else.
Before everyones' eyes, suddenly an assortment of yellow fungi resembling coral began instantaneously growing from the spot she had sprayed and rubbed her fingers over. As soon as the whole spot had become completely overgrown with it, she timidly stepped back, while Setsuna simply motioned for Nikolay to take his spot at the table where she had just pulled this little showcase off. "They just did you a favor, Bezpalov-kun. I've had to listen to Kinoko-chan go on about mushrooms more than a few times this term. If I didn't know by now those are perfectly edible, she'd probably never forgive me."
Kinoko gave the bluntest nod of her head as Nikolay did as Setsuna said, nervously prying one of the mushroom out from the root, and with some momentary hesitation, took a bite out of it. To his delight, it was just as she had said, as he recognized the raw taste almost immediately. "Ramaria flava. These grow all over the place back in Russia," he noted in astonishment, to which Setsuna just smiled that much more.
"Yeah, I told them all about you guys after we got back from the internships, and she'd been studying up on Slavic-origin mushrooms since then as a way of saying thanks for watching my back that time." To this, Nikolay looked to Kinoko, who once again gave him the slightest of nods of confirmation, which only brought a grateful smile to his face as he nodded in return. "This is very nostalgic…balshoy spasibo, Komori-san, Kodai-san."
Both 1-B girls gave barely a sound or a nod in answer before hurriedly returning to Setsunas' sides as she now took her own place at the table, with Mina, Denki and Eijirou hurriedly reclaiming their own. "Yeah, you 1-A kids don't have to worry, they bear no bad blood towards you guys. They've wanted to meet you since the internships, anyway. Honestly, that whole fracas in Erubi City has kinda made me the big star of our class for a little while. I'm sure it was probably the same for you guys; just like those Midoriya, Todoroki and Iida boys. A lot of our classmates are actually really grateful you guys were there to back me up…although Monoma-kun's been pretty ticked off I had to fight alongside, as he says, 'egotistical, fame-grubbing 1-A's' in order to get all that recognition. Thankfully he and the rest of the students who think like him are more of a minority."
At the mention of the boy known as Monoma, Eijirou noticeably tensed up, nearly jumping from his seat. "Oh yeah, that loudmouthed kid with the copycat Quirk! He really seems to like talking a lot of smack about our class! Sorry to just jump in like this, but maybe you can tell us, just what is his problem with Class 1-A? We've never even done anything to him or your class; definitely not anything worth his smart mouth!"
Setsuna couldn't even try to repress her laughter at how swiftly and suddenly Eijirou had lost his cool and calm at the mention of her snarky classmate. "Yeah, that's pretty much the natural reaction whenever Monoma-kun gets brought up. Honestly, that razor-sharp tongue of his gets under so many peoples' skin, it's a miracle he doesn't get his ass kicked on a more regular basis.
"Then again, when you have a Quirk that lets you copy anyone elses', and improves upon it, even if just for five minutes, I guess that kind of ego comes with the territory. Honestly, I wish I knew where he gets that attitude of his from when it comes to you guys. If I had to guess, I'd say he gets it from our homeroom teacher, Vlad King. Apparently, he's had a real bone to pick when it comes to Class 1-A for a really long time, but nobody really knows why."
"Well, hey, as long as not all of Class 1-B hates our guts, that's aces by me." Denki stated happily, with Mina, Eijirou and Nikolay unanimously cheering in agreement, while Kyouka could only give a restrained "hmm" of acknowledgment, while Momos' accepting nod was of course much more graceful and professional in expressing her gratitude towards the 1-B students' show of peace.
"So, you're all forming a study group, huh? Guess it goes without saying what for, huh? Well, if you've got the Number One student among the first years leading, I think you've already pretty much got it in the bag." Setsuna stated with complete confidence, completely ignorant to how her offhand compliment was making Momo blush at how casually her high marks were being thrown around.
"Unfortunately, that's not the most stressful part, Setsuna-san. We're still trying to figure out what the practical test is gonna involve." Nikolay admitted, as he, Mina and Denki all bowed their heads in anxiety in unison.
However, the lizard-like girl only started laughing, drawing the curious eyes of the downtrodden trio to her like a clarion call. "Is that really all? Well, hell, I can tell you that much. From what I heard, it's going to be showcasing all our Heroics skills in action against robots."
The instant the word 'robots' left her mouth, Mina, Eijirou and Denki jolted upright in their seats like the subjects of an electroshock as they looked upon Setsuna like a veritable savior. "Are you serious, Setsu-chan?! Is that really all it's gonna be?!"
When Setsuna simply gave them that confident fanged smirk, it pretty much answered all their questions, as Mina, Eijirou and Denki shot back up onto their feet, all cheering joyously at their fortunate luck. All the while, Nikolay was likewise smiling in relief, but his natural sense of anticipation was the only thing keeping him from dancing and cheering right alongside his three friends. "You sound pretty confident about that, Setsuna-san. How exactly did you hear about this?"
"Oh, nothing too fancy. Our class representative, Itsuka-chan, told us; said she'd heard it from an upperclassman. Maybe they were just trying to give us a heads up out of sympathy or something. Either way, no skin off our backs now that we know." Setsuna looked completely confident in her own words as she finished off the last of the shashlik stick she stole; all while Nikolay looked from her to his still cheering friends, then to a notably relieved-looking Kyouka, and a similarly contemplative Momo. He had no reason to think Setsuna was lying, she had no reason to. She got along well with all of them. So then why couldn't he shake this feeling of doubt? Why would an upperclassman go to the trouble of telling their juniors about what the end-of-term test would involve this far ahead of time, if at all, when they no doubt had their own end-of-term tests to focus on?
While he kept running his doubts through his head, Setsuna had decided it was time she, Yui and Kinoko took their leave, but not before suddenly looking to address Momo specifically, which the ponytail-wearing vice president thankfully noticed immediately, curious since she and Setsuna had never even exchanged words before. "I wasn't sure if I'd run into you at any time before the tests, Yaoyorozu-san, but Itsuka-chan wanted me to tell you both 'hello', and that she's wishing you luck and pulling for you when they start. Apparently, she got the feeling you weren't all that satisfied with your guys' internship with Uwabami, but she wanted you to know she thinks you'll definitely be able to pull this off. She also just wanted to say she would've come to tell you all this herself, but that you'd understand how busy class president life is. So with that all being said, maybe try communicating with each other more often? I really don't feel like playing messenger between you two more than this one time."
Momos' gracious smile was as heartwarming as could be in response to this, as she happily thanked Setsuna (and Itsuka off-hand) for the votes of confidence. With that, the three 1-B girls finally took their leave, while the rest of Momos' study group had finally burned through much of their energy and returned to the table to finish discussing their plans. All the while, Momo couldn't shake the feeling…or rather, lack of, the feeling of confidence inside, even now knowing what the practical test would consist of. None of the rest of her classmates could see it in her, but her head was still ringing with doubts in her own capabilities when the fated time would finally come.
When everyone had returned to Class 1-A, they were immediately abuzz with similar excitement and relief, as not only had Mina and Denki pretty much announced their return with the news of the practical test consisting of robots, but Izuku had even managed to break the very same news, having heard it from Class 1-B's Itsuka Kendo herself, thereby confirming they weren't being fed a line.
"Hot damn, is that a relief! If we're just dealing with robots, this test is gonna be a walk in the park!" Denki declared with all the confidence in the world, with Mina nodding in such enthusiastic agreement, it almost resembled more what Nikolay had heard was called 'head-banging.'
It made him feel guilty to still have to play the skeptic among their joyous display. "I still think you guys are taking that news on a little too much good faith. Even if it is robots, who's to say Yuuei simply haven't been saving the really serious one for just this occasion? We could be pitted against something way more advanced than anything we faced before; probably even adjusted to naturally resist our specific Quirks."
Alas, his caution fell on deaf ears, as Denki and Mina were still absolutely riding high on their own self-perceived good luck. "Aw, c'mon, Kolya-kun, try to be a little more positive! Our Quirks are practically made to go up against robots! How advanced could they be to shrug off acid, electricity and concentrated vibrations?"
Watching them play it all off so casually from his seat, Mezo Shouji couldn't help but comment through the mouth atop one of his tentacles: "So that's the whole reason you two are so happy, since you always have to adjust your Quirks against human opponents?"
"Heck yeah! With robots, we can all win just like that! Easy as pie!" Mina cheered, throwing her hands in the air, while Mezo continued observing and seeing how Nikolays' face was still looking quite doubtful as he started making his way for his spot at the double desk.
"I guess I can understand Kaminari and Ashidos' excitement. It must be a pain, having to always be making sure you don't overpower your Quirk and risk somebody's life, regardless whether it's an enemy or not. All that consideration, on top of trying not to get yourselves killed, must've made that battle with that Hero-hunting Villain a hell of a thing. I mean, what would happen if it were from their Quirks, is obvious, but what exactly do you think would happen if it were coming from your Quirk, Bezpalov-san? All we've ever really seen is you send people flying from the full force of it, like a gale force wind on a piece of paper."
Nikolay stopped in his tracks, thinking back on every single bit of fighting he had now gone through since coming to this school, before turning to address his mask-wearing tentacled classmate. "I have thought a lot about it, but never really tried to go full medical description on it. From what I've seen, especially from fighting Kirishima-san, Iida-san and Shiozaki-san, I guess when I fire it point blank directly into their face or through the head itself, it's something similar to the sensation a pilot goes through when they go through so much G-force that it causes them to black out; rattles the brain inside the skull something awful, I'm sure.
"As for any other part of the body? I've seen it's pretty much the same as being hit really hard by a large object when it's point blank. You know, rattling insides and bones, depending where I hit them. From what I experienced in that Villain fight, though, overuse wears down and begins to break the bones, like thousands of micro-fractures building up until it finally just gives. That's how I got these."
With that, Nikolay finally showed the extensive surgery scars running across and down the insides of his arms, while Mezos' one visible eye slightly widened in surprise, having only now gotten a good look at it for the first time.
"Finally, even though I've only used this twice, whenever I let out this Quirk-enhanced shout, it's so powerful it has to have ruptured my eardrums both times, because everyone has told me my ears started bleeding after the fact. I don't really know what it takes for me to end up using that part of my Quirk; I want to say an overwhelming surge of raw, overwhelming emotion, based on what I was feeling both times it happened. Either way, the point is, I know fighting human opponents is inevitable in the Hero world, but if I can avoid using my Quirk on another person as much as I possibly can, I'd gladly do so. Sorry if that came off as more of a tangent than you were hoping for, Shouji-san."
Thankfully, Mezo didn't look to be annoyed by the Russian boys' lengthy answer, or at least that was the impression Nikolay got from the look in his one visible eye.
As he began to continue on his way to his spot, Nikolay was suddenly shoulder-checked violently by, whom else but Bakugo, as he began storming his way for the classroom door past the still-celebrating Mina and Denki, who only just then noticed what he had just done to Nikolay, once again. "Yeah, and that pansy-ass attitude of holding back is exactly why you're always going to be a nobody in the Hero world, assuming you even live long enough to get there! Seriously, you three idiots, either standing around celebrating like you've already won, or moping as usual; it's pissing me off! It doesn't make a damn bit of difference whether it's human enemies or robots; it's all the same when they're getting blown away!"
"Hey, who do you think you're calling an idiot, you—"SHUT THE HELL UP, HALF-WATT! You and Raccoon Eyes need to focus on improving your Quirks so you don't have to worry about adjusting, dammit!" Denkis' attempt at backtalk had been swiftly shot down by yet another Bakugo-class scolding, while Nikolay instinctively returned to his two friends' sides, unsure if this was going to finally be the argument that would dissolve into violence.
However, spotting Nikolays' return out the corner of her eye, Mina swiftly stepped forward to weather Bakugos' fury herself. "First, my name isn't 'Raccoon Eyes'! Second, I think you might need glasses, Bakugo; there's three of us here, remember? If you're gonna yell at us to improve, the least you can do is acknowledge all of us!"
Nikolay was momentarily uncertain of the wisdom behind what Mina was trying to do. The heart behind it, of her standing up for him to be acknowledged as an equal, was of course appreciated. On the other hand, if it was unintentionally making him that much bigger of a target for Bakugo in the future, he wasn't sure if he should have told her to stop while she was ahead or not.
However, his uncertainty was broken when Bakugos' initial response was a mix between a condescending laugh, and a guttural sound of disgusted spite. "What's the point of acknowledging somebody as bottom-of-the-barrel as him? Yeah, that Quirk is loud and flashy, but who cares? It doesn't matter how much training or improvement he tries to put in; with his skill set, he'll never last against a real opponent! At least if you two dumbasses would actually take this shit seriously, you'd be able to put up something resembling a fight…at least for a moment, before you'd get your own asses handed to you!"
All three visibly flinched from the overwhelming surge of pure offense that washed over them at Bakugos' complete dismissal. "You don't know what you're talking about! Did you not even see or hear about what we went through on our internship?!" Mina exclaimed angrily, by now actually starting to wonder if her sentiment of 'no hard feelings' towards Bakugo was actually going to be proven wrong after all.
Before she or Denki could say anything further, Nikolay finally stepped forward himself, fists clenched tight as he and Bakugo actually locked eyes, with the young Russian refusing to back down. "Mind what you're saying right now, Bakugo! We all nearly could've died fighting Vukodlak back then! You weren't there! So don't stand here and say that we don't know how to fight or use our Quirks!"
The fiery glimmer in Bakugos' red eyes reflected a clear desire to take this even further, clearly not impressed by the fact Nikolay for once wasn't stepping back from him, while somehow managing to resist the desire to give him that same condescending sneer. "Right, you all nearly died fighting a blind man, congratulations. If you want that bullshit story to impress anyone, go spout it somewhere else, you leaky-eyed little shitsack, cause that little tussle of yours doesn't put you or any of your dumbass friends anywhere near my level."
Nikolay could finally feel the last of his composure start to break, about ready to finally raise his voice a couple octaves to match Bakugos' constant infuriated growl, but just as he began to open his mouth, the sound of palms slapping hard against a desk, broke the already tense air in the classroom. Everyone instinctively turned to the source, all surprised to find it came from Ochako, as she had slapped her hands against a nearby desk, glaring angrily at Bakugo to the exact same degree her three other friends already were. "How can you be so cruel, to say something like that?! That 'blind man' was a total monster! He beat Tunguska-sensei in a full-on battle, and he's the one that took two of his fingers, and you wanna stand there and talk like he was nothing?!"
Despite having seen how intense she could get in a fight already, nobody had actually seen Ochako this genuinely incensed before. However, for as visibly intimidated as it left a good handful of their classmates to see, Bakugo remained defiant as ever, simply rolling his eyes in response to Ochakos' anger. "Oh, boo-hoo, Round Face! Some washed up has-been getting his ass kicked by anybody is hardly a surprise! If you idiots all want to keep saying you fought a real Villain to help yourselves not feel like such failures or wastes of space, you go right ahead! It doesn't change the fact that you're still a bunch of nothings at the end of the day! The only way you could possibly hope to get ahead is by stepping in my footprints behind me…right, Deku?!"
The whole class came to a total standstill as Bakugo swiftly switched his hateful gaze to Izuku, standing on his own at his desk, wide-eyed and still with tension as the two boys now finally made eye contact. The air around Bakugo was practically sweltering with anger-induced heat as he kept staring the green-haired boy down. "I don't know if you've somehow come to understand, even a little, how to use a Quirk, but you're really starting to get on my goddamn nerves, you little shit rag!"
Watching this incredibly intense confrontation even from so up close, Nikolay could still feel a notably distinct air of worry suddenly approach, as Ochako inched over to his side, keeping vigilant watch in order to act, just in case Bakugo decided his constant taunts and threats were no longer enough. "You don't think he's talking about Deku-kuns' moves looking like Bakugos' at the Rescue Race, do you?"
Nikolay exchanged equally worried glances with Mina and Denki, who both looked to thankfully be thinking the same thing, both question and answer alike. At least grateful they were all on the same page, Nikolay regretfully answered the gravity girl: "Yeah, it's gotta be…among many other things."
While he was grateful that they were no longer the object of Bakugos' anger and scorn, he still hated feeling like he couldn't move, watching the blonde hothead talk Izuku down like he was, especially after the freckled boy had gone to so much effort to give Nikolay such useful tools for the day he would finally be able to really hold his own against their mutual bully.
"Let me tell you right now, I don't want another hollow-ass victory like back at the damn Sports Festival! By the end of this term, we'll see by our grades just who the better man is, whether you like it or not! I'LL ANNIHILATE YOU, LEAVE YOU IN THE DUST WITH THE GAP BETWEEN US, AND THEN I'LL FINALLY END YOU! SAME GOES FOR YOU, TODOROKI, YOU ASSHOLE!"
With that final fiery declaration of ultimate intent, Bakugo at last took his leave, slamming the classroom door nearly off its hinges behind him, leaving the rest of the class stunned silent, yet at the same time grateful he was finally gone.
Nikolay couldn't take his eyes off the door for a good few seconds, still feeling his whole body trembling with the desire to go out there and plant a fist into Bakugos' face, regardless how many explosions he'd end up taking immediately afterward. He couldn't simply take that bastards' taunting of his fathers' maiming lying down. Hell, he was still amazed Ochako hadn't done the same the moment he'd said so.
Speaking of, it was only then that he finally felt the mutual worried tugging at the sleeves of his uniform, hastily returning his focus back to the present, to see Mina and Ochako both looking at him very worriedly. "How are you feeling, Kolya-kun? I know this isn't the first time Bakugos' pissed any of us off, but you were completely gone for a second there."
"Yeah, that's never happened to you before, has it? You looked like you were ready to beat his face in if he hadn't set his sights on Deku-kun like that." The fear in both girls' tones was painfully evident, but the gravity of it all really hit Nikolay hard when he realized his hands were still balled up into white and red-knuckled fists at his sides, and when he finally opened them back up, he saw distinct nail markings in his palms.
Nikolay had to take a good several deep breaths to try and calm himself back down while Mina, Ochako and Denki both looked him over worriedly. "Holy crap, dude, I didn't think you could get anywhere near that angry again after what happened at your house way back." Denki commented, clearly intimidated by the atmosphere surrounding the Russian boy.
"Neither did I, Kaminari-san. It's just like I said…Bakugo is just getting worse and worse. Something…I don't know what, but something has to give here…otherwise I don't know what's gonna end up happening." Nikolay sounded likewise very concerned by the state of seeing nothing but red he had just dipped into, even if just for a moment. For the last few minutes before everyone had finally decided to leave class for the day, his friends refused to leave him alone, as Mina, Denki, Eijirou and Ochako sat at his sides on the classroom floor, simply to try and ease the air even a little bit more.
"So…you still think tutoring under Bakugo is really a good idea, Kirishima-san?" Nikolay eventually asked, to which the red-haired boy just let out a thoughtful sigh, clearly having been thinking the same thing himself, after the confrontation he'd just seen, and the vitriol he'd just heard.
"You're not wrong for asking, Kolya-san. That…yeah, that was not cool, what he was saying. But…there's gotta be more to the guy than just the cursing, screaming, explosions and insults, and maybe having someone who can take what he dishes out a little better than most, is what it'll take to bring that out. So I'm gonna go in there and keep giving it my all. That's the manly thing to do, after all; never giving up, especially on people."
Again, nobody could find any reason to find Eijirous' view nothing short of admirable, but Nikolay once more couldn't bring himself to embrace it so fully, not after that. After all the insulting names and the minor and considerable examples of assault, it was brushing off the suffering and pain of his family and friends that proved the one line unable to be taken back after being crossed…for Nikolay, Ochako and Mina both.
Until the time could ultimately come that Bakugo would finally have his attitude get knocked down a peg, there was always going to be this one blemish on his record that would keep them from being able to officially get along, and they all knew it with regretful certainty.
However, now was far from the time to dwell on it further, as they knew they now had the rest of the week to get themselves ready for the final exam. Once that obstacle would be overcome, then they could finally worry about what was to come after, Bakugo-related and not.
Tuesday, June 25th
The school day had thankfully come and gone with nary a thing out of place; very much needed after the exceptionally intense way it had ended for Nikolay, Izuku and Bakugo yesterday, especially. However, this wasn't a simple case where all the students could just go home and go about their business as usual, at least not for a good handful of them.
No, for today was officially to mark the beginning of their established study group that would now take up the time after school let out for the rest of the week before the final exam's written portion that would take place on Monday.
From the moment the school day had started, Momo had extended formal invitation to Nikolay, Mina, Denki, Kyouka, Hanta and Mashirao to gather at her home, address included, after school would let out, so they could officially commence. Of course, it was very surprising, if not a touch overwhelming, to be extended invitation to his class' vice presidents' personal abode so suddenly, but Nikolay wasn't about to let such a thing deter him from this course. He had gone out of his way to extend a helping hand to her when it came to covering what of their topics he felt confident in, and he would be damned if he would back down from that offer now.
However, as focused as he was the entirety of their time at school, that focus had very quickly vanished when the time had finally come for him and the rest of the study group to head out to the Yaoyorozu household. His comfort had started to dwindle once the scenery had started changing from the typical cityscape, to a neighborhood consisting of more and more villas and miniature mansions with pristine landscaping.
However, what they all quickly came to realize was that the Yaoyorozu mansion made all the rest of the fancy homes they had passed on their way over look like ramshackle huts by comparison. In fact, the very first words to come out of Nikolays' mouth when they finally came to a stop at the front door, marveling at the sheer size and decorative grandeur of it all, were specifically: "Zimniy Dvorets (The Winter Palace)," which was quite appropriate.
"Damn, I thought Yaomomo had to be well off, with how sophisticated she talks and carries herself, but this…is she just rich, or is she, like, royalty?" Mina asked, mostly to herself, as Hanta, Mashirao and Kyouka were virtually speechless, and Nikolay and Denki alike felt downright out-of-place in their casual clothes in front of such a grandiose and high-class-looking place.
"S-so what are you thinking right now, Kolya-san? This is like what you would call bo…boug…that fancy French-sounding word for rich people, right? This setting off those old revolutionary instincts, or what?" The snarky smirk on Denkis' face made it clear he was only kidding, no doubt to try and dispel some of his own intimidation, but just as Nikolay was about to answer as honestly as he could, Mina was actually the one to be right there on the spot with an answer:
"He's not a Soviet anymore, Kaminari-kun. Remember what Tunguska-sensei told you all way back when we were gone? He was barely more than a baby when that all went away." Denki and Nikolay alike both looked rather embarrassed at this inconvenient little outcome, with Nikolay barely managing an awkward shrug to pretty much confirm her repeating of the very same answer he had given her way back when.
"Still, Soviet revolutionary mindsets or not…I didn't think this place was gonna be so big and…well…this much of…well, everything." Nikolay struggled to try and voice his immense discomfort, with Hanta and Mashirao likewise nodding in agreement.
At that moment, one of the large oak double doors suddenly creaked open, only to reveal Momo standing in the doorway, already dressed in practical yet frilly clothes and studious eyeglasses, as she visibly brightened up to see the whole group had arrived.
"Perfect, you're all just in time. Thank you very much for accepting my invitation. I would have understood if some of you would have been too tired after a full school day already, but it does make me happy to see you all taking this so seriously. Please, do come in, all of you." Everyone was immediately on the move, not wanting to linger out in the open so awkwardly for a moment longer, as they all graciously thanked their vice president for her hospitality, while at least remembering their basic manners and leaving their shoes at the door.
As tempting as it was to simply wander every inch of this grandiose mansion and see just what kind of fancy and luxurious settings their surprisingly humble vice president lived among, nobody dared step out of line, as Momo eagerly led them to nothing short of a grand dining hall, where a polished dining table that practically spanned the entire length of the room, with an assortment of baked goods, other snacks and drinks already set up.
"I wasn't sure what kinds of refreshments would be appealing to all of you universally, so I asked our chef to simply improvise. I hope you will all find it to your liking. Even if we're strictly here to study, I would hate for anyone to be uncomfortable in the process. So please, take your seats and we can begin discussing how best to approach all your most challenging subjects over the course of the week. I figured a much more focused approach to each one would be far more effective than simply trying to cram a little bit of every subject into each day."
While it was already mind-blowing enough to have such an elaborate display set up for them to pick from at their leisure, not to mention the fact that Momo mentioned having a personal chef as though it were the most common thing in the world, for her to be able to so expertly switch from humble host to professional tutor was simply incredible, even though none of them could have brought themselves to expect less of someone like her if they tried.
Of course, whether it was out of shared anxiety, or an instinctive need to try and delay the inevitable, all the study group immediately converged upon the refreshments, nearly overloading themselves in the process before they finally resigned themselves to their seats, realizing now there was no turning back.
However, that intimidation was thankfully dispelled once they all took their first bites or sips; all their expressions lighting up like the sun as their taste buds were embraced by the most delicious flavors they had ever experienced, even from things they had become far more than familiar with. Mina looked like she was about ready to start squealing and crying with delight at the taste of the natto, especially.
When Nikolay tried to ease his own tension by drinking from the cup of tea he had blindly grabbed on the way to his seat, his green eyes almost ignited like the purest jade; his hair nearly standing on end, as he felt like he was tasting absolute nirvana on his tongue.
In fact, even though his very animated reaction was easily noticed by Momo herself, his overwhelm left him all but blind to it. He was unable to even feel embarrassed when he realized she was observing him the whole time. "I'm to take it you all find it to your liking?"
A practical chorus of confirmation and immense gratitude from the entire study group echoed up and down the table while Nikolay eagerly finished his tea, almost looking as though he were legitimately pounding it back, it was so good. "Forgive me, Yaoyorozu-san. It's just that…we Russians…we're like the Eastern European equivalent of the English…and the Japanese, of course, when it comes to how seriously we take the concept of tea. I suppose you could say it's the one thing the average Russian drinks more than vodka or alcohol in general. That being said…this has to be the single most excellent tea I've ever had in my life, and for that, I thank you."
To receive such high praise all around for something as inconsequential as her preparations in refreshments for her guests left Momo surprisingly happy, to the point it was honestly rather adorable to see her, when she was normally so mature and proper, look so touched by all their appreciation, much like when they had all approached her for study help in the first place.
However, just as quickly as it had come, Momo had quickly returned herself to her professional demeanor as she quickly grabbed the first of the many textbooks she had sitting at the head of the table, readjusting her glasses as she gazed intently over all her gathered classmates. "Thank you all for your kind words. However, let's not let ourselves get sidetracked. You all came to me for assistance, and if we are all to be well and truly prepared for the final exams, than we must focus from here on out. I've managed to confirm that only the written portion of the final exam will be held on Monday. However, the grades for them will be made official on Tuesday, the same day on which we have the practical test, so time is now of the essence. So, let us begin."
As much as Nikolay, Mina, Denki and Hanta still wanted to try and actually avoid studying instinctively, the enthusiasm and willingness to help displayed by Momo was nothing short of inspiring, as with a single unifying cheer, the study group was finally able to officially commence.
Unfortunately for all of them, Momo had decided to officially start their study week with mathematics, virtually the one subject they were all universally struggling with, except for her. For Nikolay, just as with every other attempt he had made thus far this term with their math assignments, it felt like it started easy enough, but as time passed and the questions piled on in intensity and complexity, his already shaky confidence all but disintegrated. After a solid hour of Momos' lecturing, the young Russian was all but splayed out at his spot of the table, repeatedly clawing his fingertips against the table as he stared at his textbooks and notebook like he was trying to set them on fire with his mind.
It was only when he finally erupted into a frustrated tirade against the numerous, and in some cases even contradictory, sets of rules that composed algebra, that was echoed if not matched by Denki, Mina and Hanta alike, that Momo finally decided to give math a rest, and instead have them go into English studies, which everyone thankfully looked much more willing to put up with.
Of course, the continuous lecturing and numerous attempts by everyone (besides Kyouka) to try and translate the excerpts from their Japanese textbooks into English, only to pretty much all come out barely above unintelligible, once again quickly piled onto all their collective frustration. However, this time Momo remained unperturbed, instead looking as though a brilliant idea had just occurred to her, by the time Hanta had completely butchered translating an excerpt from 'Of Mice and Men'.
"Oh, why didn't I think of this sooner? I've often heard it said that an effective means towards at least memorizing the pronunciation of another language is through listening to music in that language. There's plenty of easy-to-listen-to music in English that could perhaps provide the foundation you all need to perfect your pronunciation and grasp of the grammatical rules so you can better understand exactly what it is you're all translating, instead of going for these word-for-word literal translations you all are prone to fall back on. Perhaps some English covers of some popular Japanese songs might be able to serve that purpose even better."
Momos' inherent confidence was infectious enough as it was, and Nikolay could see it reflected in all his study-mates faces as they listened to her theory. However, when he saw the all-but confirming look of assurance in Kyoukas' eyes as she listened; a likewise spark of inspiration hit him hard as well, as he jolted upright in his seat, catching everyones' attention.
"Yaoyorozu-san may be onto something…and I know how we can all test it out without having to linger here for hours through the night! Jirou-san, if you were to go home right now, do you think you would have enough simple English musical material and MP3 players to provide for everyone in this group so we could continuously practice our English over the course of the week, even outside study meetup?"
Thankfully, everyone was immediately able to figure out what Nikolay was proposing before he even finished, and soon all eyes were expectantly, or perhaps even pleadingly, upon Kyouka, who squirmed uncomfortably in her seat. However, as the proposal continued to sink in, and she further took in the hopeful looks in everyones' eyes, her awkward posture slowly grew more firm and confident. Of course, the fact that it was a request for the entire group, and not Nikolay alone, left her with much less awkwardness or hesitation in her answer:
"Yeah, I've definitely got more than enough easy material you could all take the time to listen to. Thankfully the players aren't expensive, so I could easily grab some on my way home tonight and work from there. Good thinking, Yaoyorozu-san, Bezpalov-san."
Nearly everyone was immediately heaping their gratitude and praise on Kyouka the moment she confirmed she could pull through for them, with Mina, Denki and Hanta practically calling her a savior over and over again. Admittedly, it did leave the normally unreadable purple-haired girl with a rather proud smile on her face.
It was on that surprisingly positive note, that the study groups' first night was ultimately cut short, in order that she would have enough time to get everything together she needed, while not risking however much sleep she would need that night to be just as ready for their next meet up on Wednesday.
Wednesday, June 26th
From the beginning of the school day, the study groups' spirits were high, as Kyouka had managed to come through for them, and then some. She had come into class bright and early in order to hand out one of the tiny music players she had collected on her way home the previous night, all outfitted with plenty of simplistic English music and English covers of popular Japanese songs, and she had even gone the extra mile by writing down a brief collection of notes detailing the specific mechanics of translating from strictly Japanese grammatical structure, to English structure, just as Momo had suggested.
As they all took their surprise gifts and new study supplies graciously, it felt almost as if the rest of their week, at least studying-wise, was going to practically be a breeze, regardless of the ever-present hurdles of math, science, history and literature they still had to deal with.
Thankfully, study group after school on Wednesday would ultimately prove far more productive than it ultimately had been yesterday, because not only was it decided this would be the day they would discuss and study up for their classical literature class, therefore they had both Momo and Nikolay to try and help, but to everyones' surprise, even Tenya had decided to join this time around in order to provide assistance of his own, having overheard their study plans right from the beginning of the week.
With such three distinctly different, yet in other ways similar, personalities manning the helm of study group that day, it was certainly a very lively, and perhaps overly informative, study period. Just as she had believed, Momo and Tenya had managed to prove quite the wellsprings of knowledge and insight into the prose, narratives and themes of many of their classical Japanese and Western literary selections, while Nikolay pretty much took complete control when it finally came time to discuss their few, yet very much present, Russian selections. In fact, more than once did he end up having to get called back from going too deep into the actual philosophers' personal histories and philosophies of Georgism, Moralism, Realism and Nihilism when discussing their works, and thereby risking the overall focus of the whole group.
Overly-animated literature lectures from Nikolay and Tenya aside, Wednesday ultimately proved a much smoother and ultimately more fruitful studying day than many of them had initially expected, and thus just as the day had begun, it ultimately had ended with their spirits and optimism burning even brighter.
Thursday, June 27th
Study group on Thursday, however, turned out to be far more difficult, because that was to be science study. From the moment school had ended to their arrival at Momos' mansion, the whole study group had come, almost resembling a death march, having virtually no confidence this time around that they would be able to comprehend any of it, even with Nikolay and their vice presidents' help.
Hell, Nikolay was barely managing to keep his head even a little higher than those of his peers when they had finally arrived.
It didn't go much better from there, either. Momos' lectures were as well-paced, concise and understandable as always, but when it actually came time to try writing down chemical equations, it was pretty much all downhill from there. Denki had literally devolved into desperate screaming as he tried scribbling down the first letters and numbers that could come to mind, Hanta looked completely and utterly physically, mentally and spiritually drained, Kyoukas' head hung low and morose, as though she were a convict awaiting the gallows, and Mashirao was barely managing to keep his typically calm and collected exterior; his brow only barely twitching with annoyance at how overly complicated the whole damned subject was.
However, by far the single most visually heartbreaking moment was when Mina was finally on the verge of giving up, having been trying to figure out the chemical formula for fluoroantimonic acid, before ultimately throwing her hands and head back with an outcry of total frustration and hopelessness, only for Nikolay to sit beside her and offer to try and help her figure it out.
It was the fact that she looked so overwhelmingly grateful for his help that made the end result that much worse, as when he had ultimately written out what he believed to be the full formula, Momo only looked it over for a moment before pointing out numerous mistakes, effectively making him look completely clueless in front of the whole study group. And it only further snowballed from there, as with every attempt he tried to write out an equation more complex than the most basic of elements, liquids and chemicals, Momo was continuously proving to be the far more adept one.
This routine persisted for well over an hour, before Nikolay ultimately realized how truly out of his depth he was when it came to the more complex levels of chemistry and elemental science, silently planting himself back in his seat with his face firmly affixed to the table in defeat. He never once had any misconceptions that he was anywhere near Momos' level of this kind of knowledge. To be useful at all with her Quirk pretty much demanded that she know virtually every little detail of this kind of science by heart already.
However, he had spent so much time thinking he actually had a halfway decent foothold on the elemental science aspect at least, that to know just how much he ultimately was still clueless on, was nothing short of foundationally discouraging.
"Please, don't beat yourself up over this, Bezpalov-san. Nobody is capable of knowing everything, and they shouldn't ever think that they should be. That's just plain unrealistic. You've already proven yourself quite knowledgeable in literature study yesterday. Just try to accept that you have much ground to improve upon here, and embrace the academic strengths you already have in the meantime."
Momos' attempt at encouragement was undoubtedly sincere, and it was at least effective enough to where Nikolay could finally lift his face back up from the table again. But it was still clear as day that his confidence in his intelligence in general had suffered a heavy blow.
And, of course, there was no way Mina could keep quiet when she saw this defeat reflected in his eyes. "Aw, try to cheer up, Kolya-kun; it's okay. Hey, tomorrow is history study, and you sounded really confident talking about that before. Do you maybe have any ideas what we could do for that?"
Of course, her question got him thinking, and after a few moments of blind mental scrambling, he hit upon a spark; a spark that almost immediately ignited into a solar flare of an idea, as he slowly sat himself back up straight in realization, all the while wondering why he hadn't even considered this from the start. "Yes…yes I do."
Naturally, this visible boost in his demeanor grabbed most the study groups' attention; particularly that of Kyouka and Momo, as Nikolay turned to their host with a veritable pep in his step. "Yaoyorozu-san, how about tomorrow, we hold study group at my house? I think I might have the perfect idea how to not only study for world history, but make sure we all retain what we learn, above anything else!"
It visibly pleased Momo to see her Slavic classmate get his spark back so quickly, to which she simply smiled and gave her complete approval for this last minute change in routine. His reinvigorated confidence was contagious among the rest of his study-mates, while Mina was looking at the bright, hopeful smile on Nikolays' face, matching it with her own. Knowing him as well as she now did, she had a very good idea just what exactly he had in mind, and she couldn't have been more excited to see how it would play out.
Friday, June 28th
School on Friday likewise came and went, but at least now the study groups' morale had been restored. The idea of easy English-language music to listen to in all their spare time, alongside Kyoukas' extensive notes, was actually proving to have been a stroke of genius, as Denki, Hanta, Mina and Nikolay were all observing a greater remembrance of certain English words and phrases, what they translated to in Japanese, and how their specific rules of grammar changed into similar kind of rules in Japanese as well.
Once again, Momo and Kyouka went through a majority of the school day being met with constant showers of gratitude from their study-mates, which of course left their vice president notably happy to see and hear, while Kyouka was torn between just plain accepting her share of the credit, and maintaining her emotionally distant, stoic demeanor. Of course, (almost) nobody noticed how it was usually when Nikolay was taking the chance to personally thank her for all her help, that Kyouka would actually noticeably blush; in stark contrast to how the rest of her face would remain as expressionless as ever.
From the moment the ending bell had rung, the whole study group was practically on march straight for Nikolays' house; all of them easily able to see the excitement in his body language every step of the way. Truth be told, Nikolay had all the confidence in the world that this idea of his would actually be able to help them out immensely, and he couldn't wait to get back and finally get them started.
And of course, out of all of his study-mates, it was Mina and Kyouka who were the most stricken by this upswing in his mood, with the former being unable to help but smile in equal excitement right alongside him, while Kyoukas' was considerably more subdued.
When the study group had finally arrived at his home, they stepped inside, only to be met with the surprising sight of Oleg, accompanied by Izuku, Ochako, Eijirou and Tenya, gathered at the dining room table in a manner resembling a miniature version of their own group. "Kolya, I thought you and your study-mates were going to malenkaya Yaoyorozus' home for your study sessions." Oleg stated in total surprise, matched by the faces of his students.
"Sorry, Dad, I forgot to run it by you yesterday, getting home so late and all. We unanimously decided to hold our history study session here today, since I've actually got a pretty good idea how best to help us memorize everything. What about you guys? You haven't been here any other day of the week." Nikolay explained, before just as quickly expressing his surprise at his other friends' presence so soon after school had already let out.
"Oh, well there were some details about yesterdays' Quirk History lesson we were hoping Tunguska-sensei could clear up for us." Ochako explained as Tenya, Izuku and Eijirou nodded in agreement.
"It's mainly about the question he left us with before class ended, on what the concept of Heroism actually is. Not the definition of an actual Hero, but what the concept of the action itself actually means." Izuku further elaborated, leaving Nikolay and his study group visibly regretful that they hadn't actually stopped since then to actually ponder that question, since Oleg had emphasized that their finding out that meaning was to be their last bit of homework for his class that term, and none of them felt any closer to an actual answer.
All the while, Oleg simply looked over his personal students satisfactorily. "That's right. Malenkie Midoriya, Uraraka, Kirishima and Iida have been very diligent in coming to me for help in finding their answer. As for the rest of you kids, I know one or two of you have been showing some considerable difficulty in processing some of my most recent lessons, also. Perhaps you would care to join in our little study group as well," he offered with his large arms crossed over his chest, staring specifically at Denki and Hanta among them in a not-so-subtle gesture as to who said stragglers were.
"Actually, Tunguska-sensei, we've been going over Quirk History in between our more general education study sessions already, so you may end up seeing some marked improvements in everyones' grades before too long, even if we have yet to ponder the specific question you gave us. Plus, we've also pretty much cemented what our study schedule is going to be for the rest of this week, and I'd prefer nobody here overload themselves to the point they risk losing anything I've drilled into their heads." Momo likewise explained as graciously as she could, earning an understanding nod of acceptance from their older host.
"So, what exactly do you have in mind for us to study today, Kolya-sensei?" Mina asked as she and the rest of the group took their places around the living room, giggling when she saw the blush on Nikolays' face at his unofficial title for the rest of the day.
"Well, before we officially get started, I thought I'd just take the chance to say I decided to look a little further into Yaoyorozu-sans' suggestion of the whole English-music-listening for the sake of improving our English comprehension idea. I ended up coming across something else we could try to give us a little bit more time of extra English study, without having to actually put in the conscious effort.
"Apparently there's a thing essentially called sleep-learning, where you would basically have a lesson playing through your ear buds as you sleep, and your brain subconsciously soaks in the lessons, so you're essentially learning over night. People have supposedly been using it to help themselves learn other languages forever, among other things. So I thought that would be an idea you guys would be interested in trying, since I know some of us are still struggling with quite a bit of it."
Many of his study-mates, and even those among Olegs' little circle, specifically Ochako, looked visibly surprised at this apparently ages-old theory of his, while Momo looked like he had simply read them the common weather report. "Bezpalov-san is correct in that it's a quite effective means of unconscious studying. I've actually used it more than a couple times myself. It's been very helpful in helping me learn enough of a few languages so I can at least communicate with foreign guests at any of my parents' parties or fundraisers and such. I think you might all find it very useful."
Their brilliant vice presidents' vote of confidence was really all it took for the rest of the study group to start voicing their approval and willingness to try it out themselves, leaving Nikolay expressing gratitude for Momos' help. With that tidbit having thankfully been taken care of quickly, he hurriedly got back to his real reasoning for their coming here.
"Anyway, my idea for our study group today is going to seem unorthodox, but just hear me out. I've heard it said more than a few times online that students have a better tendency to absorb educational material through the form of entertainment, hence why the English music idea seems to have been panning out as well as it has for us so far. Basically, if you give students a way to take in information that allows them to actually care and get actively invested about what they're learning, they'll retain it much better.
"So, with that in mind, since today is our history study session, I thought a good way for us to cover the parts of world history we've been struggling with, since it seems pretty scattershot between us, would be for us to conduct a historical film viewing session. I've taken the liberty of picking specific movies based on the time periods you all admitted you were struggling with, and I've also gone and prepared a few questionnaires for each title based on the historical context of those same time periods, so we can go over them between each title and see how well we've all taken in the information we need."
Nikolay hurried back to his room and came right back with a handful of surprisingly thorough packets he began handing out to his study-mates; all of whom were looking notably eager to get started, albeit some, not for the reasons he had been hoping.
"Ha, I knew your idea was gonna go this way, Kolya-kun! Good thing I grabbed some of these on my way home last night!" Mina exclaimed eagerly as she began rummaging through her backpack before pulling out several packets of microwaveable popcorn, candy, and several cans of juice, soda and tea; the excited smile on her pink face almost mirroring those of her peers.
"Oh wow, you came fully stocked, Ashido! I was just about to say I'm parched, too!" "Dammit, I would've grabbed more snacks on the way back, too, if I'd known we were getting a movie night out of this!" "Is there perhaps anything that isn't so packed with sugar?" "I don't know exactly what we're gonna be sitting through, but it sounds like it's gonna be pretty lengthy regardless. Are you sure all this is gonna be enough for everyone?"
The respective chatter from Denki, Hanta, Mashirao and Kyouka began overlapping almost instantly, but just as Nikolay and Momo were about to try and help their group settle down, Tenya shot up from his seat; the grinding of wood on wood thankfully being loud enough to grab all their attention and end the noise.
"All of you, please, try to compose yourselves! Don't forget that you still came here primarily to study! I understand your eagerness, but this is not a free pass from your responsibilities as students!" As soon as their class president had quelled the ruckus, he and Nikolay locked eyes; the bespectacled boy pausing to readjust his tie before speaking further with much more calm, but no less authority.
"Bezpalov-san, your idea on how to help your classmates study for the history portion of the written test is commendable, I don't doubt that at all. But are you really sure an idea like a historical film viewing session is really the most effective means to help them retain what they're lacking from the lessons we've had already? Are you certain a simple reading circle over the history subjects we've had would not be a simpler, not to mention less distracting, means of doing so?"
As much as Nikolay didn't want to admit it, the fact that his study-mates were all so quick to start focusing more on movie theater prep than getting ready to actually watch and learn, did leave him a touch doubtful as to how good an idea this really was. However, he wasn't about to back down now, not after having worked up the courage to offer what help he could to this whole week-long plan to begin with, knowing how deep in the hole he himself was with most of them.
Besides, they had all looked so excited, how could he bring himself to bring that hype down like that?
Just as he was about to give Tenya his answer, Momo surprisingly spoke up in turn: "There's no reason to consider one form of learning any more or less valid than another, Iida-san. Clearly the reason such ideas like this would come up enough for Bezpalov-san and I to even consider them at all is because it clearly worked for enough people somewhere at some point. Why should this be any different? Maybe you four could all join us when your own study session is over. Sit and observe, so to speak."
Once again, Momos' personal vote of confidence rendered Tenya silent and visibly considerate of her viewpoint, while Ochako and Eijirou likewise looked rather excited to get involved. Once it seemed that everyone was at least partially onboard, Nikolay let out a sigh of relief, once more thanking Momo for her support, as well as that of everyone around, and proceeded to go over everything they had to review for the rest of the afternoon, and most likely well into the night.
"Alright, so after running it by everyone after our study session yesterday, we have, in general, the Ancient Roman Empire, the colonization and Christianization of South America, World War I, The Great Depression, and both the active battlefront and behind-the-scenes theaters of what the rest of the world calls World War II, but what Russians like Dad and I call 'The Great Patriotic War.' Well, thankfully I've been able to scrounge one title for the rest, but when it comes to the last item, there are more than enough to choose from."
As Nikolay eagerly began setting up the first of their selections, based on Denki and Hantas' difficulties on the Ancient Rome subject, Mina simply couldn't keep her giddy commentary to herself: "I know you're really into movies and stuff like that, Kolya-kun, but I didn't think you would be this prepared so quick. I mean, history is so specific, how did you know exactly what to look for?"
"Ah, it's more than just Kolyas' love for the film medium, malenkaya Ashido, though in this case that does play a huge part. No, I guess you all could say we Russians have always had a very deep respect for history as a whole; at least notably more so than most modern nations these days. We consider it all precious, but especially our own, much like anyone else would. After all, our particular history has pretty much been written by thousands of years of nothing but conflict. So we as a people make a point of holding on to as much of the worlds' history in our hearts as we can so that none of it is ever truly forgotten. It's far, far easier said than done. Some days I would even consider it an impossible task, but so long as we all make the effort; that accomplishes more than you would think."
There was a deep solemnity in Olegs' surprise little speech, but there was also a form of acceptance and inherent responsibility to it that left students like Momo, Tenya, Eijirou and Izuku visibly moved, to the point Eijirou couldn't even bring himself to make his typical admiring comment of Olegs' seemingly boundless manly atmosphere in response.
The rest of the afternoon and nearly the entirety of the evening well into the night consisted exactly of what Nikolay had hoped it would: everyone watching with respectful silence and rapt attention, followed by considerate and inquisitive discussions and quizzes on everything they had all personally taken away from each movie in terms of historical context. To his astonishment, even Denki and Hanta were managing to keep up; while to his unspoken delight, Mina and Kyouka were actively going above and beyond in providing actual answers to the questions he'd struggled to put together for them.
If he hadn't known better, he would've wanted to chalk that up to the two girls simply wanting to be able to connect with him that much more thoroughly as their mutual friend through the one thing they both knew for certain was a personal passion for him. If that were indeed the case, he wasn't sure how he would've been able to properly express his appreciation for that.
But as of right now, he could only chalk that up to being nothing more than a baseless theory, and simply figured they were both as serious about doing the best they could for the written test as he had hoped, and from there simply stuck to their established viewing study schedule.
From 'Ben-Hur*' to 'The Mission*,' from 'All Quiet on the Western Front*' to 'The Grapes of Wrath*', every single one left at least one of Nikolays' friends with something of great importance to take away that he knew deep down would help them improve their history grades, if even just a little bit.
However, it was when they finally got to his last two selections for the night, covering both fields of the Second World War; that was when the relatively smooth sailing came to an end, but not for any accidental or technological reasons.
No, because their last two titles for the night ended up being 'Schindler's List*' and 'Come and See*,' and with both came numerous points where the whole group had to stop and take a good several minutes, either to comprehend, process, or more appropriately, cope with what they were bearing witness to, or to simply try and cry out their mutual heartbreak that came with the reminder that the things they were watching happen on screen had in fact been real at that point in history.
'Schindler's List' had been immensely hard on everyone, having to watch the gradual development of what would come to be the single greatest crime against humanity ever committed, through the eyes of who was no more than an average citizen within the Third Reich. However, to sit and watch 'Come and See', the tale of the Nazi invasion of Belarus through the eyes of a horrified, devastated and half-deaf 14 year-old boy, and watch Nikolay and Oleg alike slowly but surely crack and shatter into a million teary-eyed and sobbing pieces from beginning to end, had been an experience in and of itself.
The look of complete anguish the movie left on Nikolays' face was far different from the devastation his friends had seen him wear, the night of the incident the first time they had come to his home. No, this wasn't sadness and pain on such a personal level, it was almost to that of an existential level, like it was a pain that could only truly be felt and understood fundamentally by people of their national background specifically, even if the experience of the film itself had broken all the students' hearts likewise.
As the final minutes of 'Come and See' played out to the lamenting tune of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's 'Lacrimosa', everyone was visibly affected by the unadulterated horrors of war and accompanying human cruelty and desperation they had just witnessed for the sake of studying. Some were stifling their emotions with barely a visible sign outside of a momentarily quivering lip or a sharp intake of breath, like Momo, Tenya and Mashirao, while others were much more visibly shaken, and literally shaking, with raw emotion like Izuku, Eijirou and Kyouka. Then others were just outright weeping, if not just short of bawling, like everyone else.
As Ochako was going through her third bundle of provided tissues to wipe away her tears, she felt her heart break over and over again each time she saw how inconsolable Oleg and Nikolay both were, among everyone else. To see the teacher she probably looked up to more than most others be reduced to this state, the rosy-cheeked girl simply couldn't keep her feelings to herself anymore. "S-Sensei…I-I don't understand it. Even if it was for studying, why…*sniffle* why would you both want to force yourselves to sit through something that you had to know would make you both so sad?"
Oleg had to take a full minute to try and recollect himself, taking a tissue offered by Ochako to wipe away his own tears, not even trying to force himself to keep standing tall and strong before his students. What harm was there, really, for them to see him at such a human level right now, anyway? "Because…it is our inherent responsibility, as citizens of the world, to remember history, both the good and the terrible. That way, we always remember what came of the choices of those that came before us, and never risk becoming complacent as a society. For if that were to ever one day happen, we risk leaving the world, and the people living in it, in the hands of those who gladly forget the lessons that history forces us to learn…and then we therefore run the risk of such inhuman atrocities happening all over again. That is why we force ourselves to remember these dark times."
While Oleg explained all this, Nikolay had devolved into crying into one of his hands; the sight of which had Mina immediately pulling him into a compassionate hug, while still shedding saddened tears of her own. "What about you, Kolya-kun? Even if it was for helping us study, you shouldn't have had to force yourself to sit through something like that."
While Mina kept holding him, and Kyouka had at the same time inched in slightly on the floor to try awkwardly patting him on his knee in her own show of emotional support, Nikolay took a sharp intake of breath, finally taking his now red face from his hand as he tried to think his answer through. "Because…while these kind of movies do show the absolute worst humanity is capable of…I also like to think it shows the best as well."
Of course, after having sat through two movies back-to-back showcasing the atrocities of the Third Reich, such a sentiment earned Nikolay more than a few confused, if not downright skeptical, looks from his friends. However, now that he had already started, he couldn't stop voicing his reasoning if he'd wanted to. "What I mean, is that Dad and I both personally believe that out of terrible hardship comes the potential for true heroism, in ways big and small, and that was especially the case before the Quirk phenomenon.
"Look at the ending for this movie as an example. This kid loses everyone and everything he has to care about, one after the other. He witnesses unspeakable atrocities, lives through the complete genocide and burning of an entire village by the skin of his teeth, is put through, quite literally, Hell on Earth, comes within inches of death numerous times…and yet never once fires his gun. Sure, you could argue he simply doesn't out of fear. What fourteen-year-old wouldn't be terrified of firing a gun, especially when they're getting actively shot at?
"But still, he never fires his gun until the very end, and even then, not even at a person, but a portrait. But before I even go further into that, think about the scene we saw right before that. The Belarusian partisans catch the same monsters that slaughtered that entire village, they have every reason and natural right in the heat of war to take their revenge however they see fit; an eye for an eye and all that. Yet, in the end, they may have decided to still kill them, but chose not to stoop to their same level of barbarism. Yes, it sounds like I'm picking and choosing, but you have to try and salvage meaning from even the smallest choices in a situation like that.
"Now, going back to the ending; this kid finally lets out all the anger, fear and despair he's been building up throughout the entire movie, just like any half-sane person would who'd been through what he had. All he can see is the face of the man he knows is responsible for the whole war happening to begin with, the man who is, for all intents and purposes, truly responsible for the deaths of his family and comrades. Even if you want to argue that the whole montage of him shooting the portrait while the footage of Hitler's rise and background history are playing in reverse is less what the boy is actually envisioning, and more directly what the director is trying to convey to us, it doesn't change the overall concept that this boy can only focus on the man he wishes he could go back and kill, in the naïve hope it could somehow have prevented all this destruction, suffering and death.
"And yet, even after all that, even when he finally loses himself in his rage, hate and devastation…when he finally envisions the man he hates more than anything in the world at his very beginning, as just another baby in the arms of his mother…he can't bring himself to pull the trigger again. He just freezes and lets his tears come out instead." Nikolay was visibly on a roll, having somehow managed to pick himself right back up, energy-wise, while all his classmates were simply watching him with their full attention, all of them clearly anxious to hear what his point was now that he had needlessly gone and recapped the same draining ending to an especially draining movie.
"I've seen 'Come and See' multiple times, and I've personally come to the conclusion that his hesitation to pull the trigger that final time, is his ultimately realizing the pointlessness of it all; not just of the war itself, but even of his own personal hate. It could be so easy for him to simply label that man as the devil incarnate, and convince himself that if he were to die, all the evils in his world would be gone. Yet, he realizes how meaningless that thinking is, because when you get right down to it, no one person in this world, at any point in the past, the present or the future, is born truly evil right from the start. In the beginning, we are all just the same kind of innocent child in our parents' arms; a blank slate just waiting to be shaped and influenced by the world around us. It was the world itself that turned that baby into the monster that started one of the worst wars in human history, not the very occurrence of his birth…and our protagonist realizes that, and that's what pains him so much: the realization that any one person could have just as easily been twisted into someone just as evil as that. The war is ultimately a result of the inherent corruptibility of human nature. That's why his refusal to pull the trigger that final time, I personally think, is his way of choosing to rise above all the violence and hate that's surrounded him the entire movie. Yes, he still lost everyone and everything he loves, and on that level, it's still a very pessimistic ending. However, when I look at it the way I just described to you all…in that way, I think it's actually a surprisingly optimistic ending on a deeper level."
The air across the entire living room was heavy with sentimentality, contemplation and consideration as Nikolay saw his interpretation visibly sink into the minds of his classmates; nearly all of them looking just as moved as they had been with Olegs' answer before. Nikolay, personally, simply felt lighter to be able to finally express a train of thought he had carried for some time, for his friends to actually be taking it into consideration was nothing more than a bonus of emotional fulfillment.
"I'm sorry, Bezpalov-san…but I'm afraid I have to personally disagree with the bottom line of your interpretation of this. Even if he chose not to give in to his hate in that moment, he still ultimately chose to return to the partisans, and therefore back to that very same violence and killing you're saying he chose to rise above." Tenya ultimately replied, obviously having some clear regret to have to be the contrarian to what his Russian friend had naturally put quite a lot of thought into. At the same time, Momo looked to be falling into a similar mindset as their president.
"Iida-san does have a good point, just as much as you do, Bezpalov-san. While your interpretation does indeed paint a much more optimistic tone on this ending, the fact that he still chooses to fall in with the soldiers after all is said and done, to go to a fate of most likely dying nameless and unknown among so many others, simply brings it back to the very same pessimistic ending you described on the surface level all over again. Even the music playing is originally derived from a prayer referencing the Final Judgment. From the viewpoint of your average viewer or listener, it all ultimately provides to a very defeated and mourning lament of an ending."
In the wake of Tenya and Momos' deconstruction of Nikolays' much-needed optimistic takeaway from the most depressing film any of them had ever seen, the rest of the students couldn't help but look at the two disapprovingly, or in Mina and Ochakos' cases, desperately, as if silently begging them not to ruin the already faint glimmer of light Nikolay had provided them in that movies' wake.
However, Nikolay regained everyones' attention with an especially enthusiastic clap of his hands, with, of all things, an equally enthusiastic glimmer in his green eyes.
"And there it is, the other reason I wanted to do things this way today. I'm afraid I haven't been entirely honest with all of you, and for that, I'm sorry. Honestly, outside of history studying, I wanted at least some of you to understand why I love things like this, films like this, even if they break my heart every time. I wanted to help you all get to know me even a little bit better, since I know I haven't exactly been opening up to a lot of you as much as I probably should be by now.
"The truth is that I love films like this, just like any similar form of subjective art, because they inspire such varied interpretations, which inherently lead to discussion, and expanded understanding of one another. Isn't that the kind of thing that ultimately makes life a little bit richer: being able to express your ideals and interpretations with another person, even if they may not perfectly align with yours, and you could end up having the chance to help your own perspective mature and evolve, just as much as theirs could be in return? And what could possibly be a better example of that than discussing from these kind of films, exactly what constitutes a heroic act?
"Really, before things like Quirks and our modern definition of what a Hero is, how could anyone say that there was really any defined, textbook description of heroics? Is it heroic when you go charging into the battlefield against a side that views itself as the heroic one, just as you view your own? Is it heroic to do everything in your power to save others even at the ultimate expense of yourself? Is it heroic to do that, while also trying to look out or yourself at the same time? Is it heroic to do something you would normally find morally questionable, in the hopes that it can steer someone in the right direction, or protect people you love? Is it heroic to simply turn away from the ugliness of the world around you, so that you don't end up falling deeper into a spiritual hole you may never come out of?"
As Nikolay continued on this now mile-a-minute ramble of long-withheld perspective, he only barely noticed how his words were visibly igniting a spark of realization inside Izuku especially, who up until now had remained deep in that look of contemplation he had come to recognize quite well from the freckled boy at this point.
Almost subconsciously, Izuku picked up his trusty notebook, and had begun feverishly scribbling down, almost verbatim, what Nikolay was explaining to his president, vice president, and all his classmates, all while they were simply watching him become more and more impassioned, with a mixture of awe and respect on their faces, as they all took his words to heart once more. Among them, Hanta, Mashirao and Kyouka all looked as though they were really finally getting to meet and know their Russian classmate for the first time.
As Izuku finally finished writing the last of Nikolays' speech, as well as his own notes, down in his notebook, he felt the fire of inspiration in his chest only continue to burn brighter; a feeling he could easily see reflected in Tenya and Eijirou as well, before finally turning to see Oleg looking back at him with great focus, as though he were just waiting to hear what his and All Mights' shared disciple was taking away from his sons' impromptu speech.
"I finally understand, Tunguska-sensei; the answer to your question yesterday. I can't believe I didn't even think about it before. The answer is…that there is no one answer. The definition of what constitutes heroism is completely subjective. Any one person inherently considers themselves the hero of their own story, and therefore can consider their actions, no matter what they are, to inherently be heroic, whether it services themselves, their families and friends, or complete strangers, or even if it ends up pitting themselves against someone else. Heroism varies from person-to-person, even today when the term of 'Hero' has become so much more solidified and branded and simpler to define…or at least, we like to think it is. It's ultimately up to us to decide for ourselves, from that, exactly the kind of Heroes we really want to be."
Oleg couldn't have looked more proud, of either Nikolay or Izuku, as he and the rest of the gathered students looked between the two boys with excited smiles, both to have essentially all found the answer their teacher had hoped they would, and to now themselves have a much better understanding of not only the very concept of what they were ultimately training to become, but to also now have a much deeper fundamental understanding of their still relatively little-known Russian classmate, friend and host.
In the end, in the wake of an emotionally overwhelming and mentally draining cinematic tour through history study, every single one of the students looked as though they were just about ready to finally fall asleep on the spot. Remembering his equal share of the responsibility as host, Nikolay was quick to offer his study-mates blankets and pillows so they wouldn't have to walk or take the train home well past midnight, as he had finally realized the time had now been. Of course, those that lived with their parents, like Izuku, Tenya, Momo, Kyouka and Mashirao instinctively declined, as they didn't wish for their parents to worry about them, while Mina, Ochako, Denki and Hanta simply wanted to be able to rest in the comfort of their own beds after such an exhaustingly long day.
Of course, they were all more than happy to express their gratitude for Nikolays' hospitality and overall efforts to aid in their history studies regardless, while Mina was simply overjoyed that he had gone so far out of his way to actually put together such a big gathering of their classmates and friends, regardless of the reasons, capping off her departure with another cheerful embrace, complete with warm cheek rubs. Then, of course, the overall spirits for everyone were lifted, when Kyouka actually proposed doing something as upbeat as a day of musicals next time; an idea that, to hers and Nikolays' (semi) surprise, everyone was very open to.
With final goodbyes for the night finally said to his friends and classmates, Nikolay all but made a beeline for his bedroom, before shutting the door and collapsing face-first into bed, out like a light almost instantly.
All the while, Oleg couldn't help but look upon the left over scene of the living room, not even close to being a mess. All he could think of at that moment, was simply how happy he was to see his son back in his personal element among so many of his peers, and being able to engage, talk and just enjoy himself alongside them so thoroughly. His paternal instinct couldn't help but bring a tear of fatherly pride to his eye, to see his son having finally managed to become so social with so many of his classmates.
As the larger Russian man finally began to likewise make his way to bed, a familiar buzzing from within his pocket brought him to a stop. Bringing out his cellphone, he was momentarily surprised to find Headmaster Nezus' office number was calling him. He immediately answered as he once more sequestered himself to his room, answered immediately by the mouse principal before he could even give a greeting. "I apologize for calling you at such a late hour, Tunguska-san. I just wanted to extend some instructions to you. All the faculty of Yuuei is conducting a meeting in my office first thing in the morning, before the regular school schedule begins. I implore that you please be there on time. There's been some sudden…developments we all need to discuss and work around with each other, in regards to the final exams next week."
Olegs' acceptance of this request was brief, yet no less professional, as he ended the call and collapsed like a mighty oak into his bed, staring up through the shadows at the ceiling, wondering what on earth could possibly have come up that would make the always so calm and prepared headmaster call a meeting like this on such short notice.
Monday, July 1st
At long, long last, the day had finally come: the day of the written test of the final exams. After an entire week of practically non-stop study prep, Nikolay and his friends and classmates had to admit they were just about as ready as they were ever going to be, in both the best and worst possible ways. From the moment he had woken up that morning feeling like he could take on the entire academic world, with every step he took loser and closer to Yuuei, and from there, closer to Class 1-A, he felt that confidence surely dwindle. In fact, he could have also sworn he was feeling his stomach tie in knots out of pure anxiety as he walked the halls, soon recognizing more and more of his classmates along the way, with many reflecting similar stress to his own.
When he finally ended up spotting Momo and Kyouka from among the crowd, still looking as professional, self-sure and stoic as they always did respectively, he couldn't possibly lie: "I don't know how else to say it, you two…I'm scared as hell. On one hand, I know as much as I'm going to of all the material we covered, but on the other, I feel like it's at risk of just flying right out of my head and leaving me a clueless husk the instant we sit down. I don't know how to make the feeling stop!"
Of course, the class vice president was understandably taken aback that this was what they were pretty much greeted with right out the gate after typical good mornings had been exchanged, but her natural sense of leadership quickly took hold as she held onto Nikolays' shoulders firmly as they now stood just outside of 1-A's doors. "Bezpalov-san, please listen to me carefully: there is no rule that says you shouldn't feel nervous. This was what all our studying last week was for, to be nervous now that the time has arrived is only natural. You've proven yourself in some fields admirably, just as you showed weakness in others, there's no shame in that. Just remember that everything we did up to now was a team effort, and that very same team is going to be right there with you now. None of us have to face the test alone, all right? Take that for whatever you personally feel it's worth."
"Yeah. Besides, you took the reins pretty strongly a couple days out of the bunch, too. You were pretty much second-in-command. Maybe take a page out of Yaoyorozu-sans' book and try to show a little more confidence, huh?"
It wasn't exactly the kind of pep talk he had been blindly searching for, but deep down he knew it had to be because Momo and Kyouka were just as nervous as he was; only they were far better at controlling it and taking charge.
Before anything else could be said, though, the sound of running footsteps started sounding from further up the hall, and when the trio turned to investigate, they were met with the ecstatic smiling face of Mina calling out to them, accompanied by Eijirou, Denki, Hanta and a slightly faster-walking Mashirao, before she practically threw herself up into the air with a running jump, throwing her arms around Nikolay and Kyouka alike.
"Oh my God, I love you guys," she squealed with joy the moment her feet met the ground, leaving Nikolay and Kyouka utterly stricken with surprise, while their faces turned nearly neon red at her lack of specific context. "I was so scared about today…but those English music and sleep-learning ideas…oh god, you two are total geniuses! I tried them both the last two days, and I remember more from our study groups than I ever would have without! I even tried it with some of the math, history and science stuff, and I actually remembered it this morning! I actually feel totally ready!"
Nikolay and Kyouka both let out simultaneous sighs to finally know their pink friends' actual meaning, while looking to see Eijirou and Mashirao were reflecting the same kind of confidence and eagerness, albeit not to the same adorably energetic degree as Mina. However, to both theirs, and Momos' concern, neither Denki nor Hanta looked anywhere near as comfortable, let alone confident.
"I must admit I'm surprised, Ashido-san. I didn't think you would actually go beyond just the English material for such a theory. I was sure you would've simply stuck with the instructions we had suggested and simply leave the rest to your own ability to remember." Momo admitted, albeit with some reluctance, as she personally couldn't imagine how even someone as universally loving as Mina couldn't construe at least some insult in her specific choice of words, for lack of anything better.
"Are you kidding, Yaomomo? When I said I was willing to force myself to study for the whole week to get to that forest lodge with all of you, I meant it, no matter how much I really didn't want to! I, Ashido Mina, never tell half-truths, and that's a promise! Oh my God, I can't wait for this dumb exam to finally be over! That summer of camping is so close, I can just feel it! Food, fireworks, hot springs and games, here we come!"
"Hell yeah, it's all but in the bag for me, too! That Bakugo really doesn't pull punches when it comes to tutoring, either! I feel like I could take on anything that test can throw at us!" Eijirou chimed in with exceptional bravado of his own; all while Nikolay and Mina could only express relief that their red-haired friend hadn't actually gotten blown to pieces by their class' most temperamental student.
"Man, how is it so easy for you two, of all our classmates, to say all that? I tried that stupid sleep-learning thing, and I can't remember jack!" Denki lamented, looking like he was about ready to keel over, while Hantas' distant gaze already resembled that of the thousand-yard stare, just fearing the inevitable that was to come.
"Oh, come on, don't let yourselves get down already, you guys! We all worked super hard all week, there's no way you could've forgotten everything! We're all rooting for you the whole way, anyway! We're all rooting for each other, period! I'll bet it's all gonna come back to you at the last moment, like magic!" Mina proclaimed with all the confidence in the world, no matter how childish her specific sentiments sounded, it still lifted the hearts of all those nearby to hear it as she was positively beaming, even more so than usual.
"And we've got you to thank for making it all possible, Yaomomo! Thank you, thank you, thank you so much! I would've been a total goner, and that lodge trip would just be a dream for me if it weren't for you," she finally proclaimed with so much sincere gratitude for the visibly flustered Momo, that it was almost tear-jerking.
Of course, Momo waved her hand before her face with an embarrassed smile, trying to brush away the heaps of praise Mina and the rest of her study mates were beginning to put upon her. "Oh, please, I can't possibly take so much credit. You all came to me for help, yes, but you all were the ones who had to make the continuous effort the whole week to carry on with our studies, even though I knew it was wearing all of you down. You all deserve just as much credit, if not more. You were the ones who ultimately had to make the sacrifice of your time to make this as fruitful as it no doubt will prove to be."
Nikolay and the others felt an immense swelling of even greater respect for Momo continuing to remain as kind and humble even in the heat of the moment, but before Nikolay could start to finally close the distance to finally enter class, he felt Mina suddenly grab onto his shoulder to stop him, looking him in the eye with a smile of such warmth that it made him freeze; his fair cheeks starting to turn as pink as she always was. "You deserve all our thanks too, Kolya-kun. You were in just as deep as the rest of us, but you pulled yourself right back up and did everything you possibly could to help us all, even when you knew you probably should've been forcing yourself to study the whole time, too, and we won't ever forget that…I won't ever forget that."
Nikolay barely managed to look past Minas' smiling face to see Kyouka was, for once, actually giving him a similar smile of heartwarming gratitude, only to avert her gaze when she realized he was now looking at her. The moment after, Mina once again pulled the Russian boy into another tight, warm and emotional embrace. "Thank you so much, Kolya-kun. Don't let yourself forget that this awesome summer's gonna be possible…just as much because of you."
Of course, nobody else was about to express their similar gratitude in such a physical way, but the ongoing expressions of gratitude from Eijirou, Denki, Hanta and Mashirao left Nikolay more than a little pink in the face, too shy to look any of them in the eyes, but still managing to smile in likewise appreciation. "I might not have been as all-around effective as Yaoyorozu-san, but I was happy to do what I could, where I could. I just hope it really will have proven worth it."
By the time Mina finally released her hug from around his sides, Nikolay was visibly swallowing another nervous lump in his throat. "I wanted to be able to go to the forest lodge more than anything when I started hearing everyone say what we could potentially end up doing over there…but I wanted to try and make it so every last one of us could make it, even more. I kept telling myself all last week that we were doing well enough that our passing the exam would be nothing short of a shoe-in. But now that the day's actually here…I can't bring myself to feel that confident…at least, not completely. I can't shake the last bit of worry that at least one of us isn't going to end up doing good enough, and it doesn't matter who that would end up being…the thought of someone actually missing out on the kind of summer we could be looking at can't help but make me still feel a little sad."
Nikolay could tell from the contemplative looks on all his study-mates and friends' faces, that they understood exactly where he was coming from. However, before the silence could begin to chip away at the shared air of optimism between them, Mina visibly perked up as she began ruffling through her backpack, before suddenly pulling out a black marker, prying the cap off with her teeth. "You know what? I've got a great idea! Everyone, let's all put one of our hands together in the middle, like this."
Mina immediately extended her free hand low to the space between all of them, and with many uncertainly following her example, they all extended one of their hands likewise, until they were all pretty much joined at the fingertips in a circle. "Okay, now just hold still for a second." With that, Mina proceeded to run the tip of the marker across the backs of hers and everyone elses' hands, until she had managed to form a rather crude little black circle between them. From there, ignoring the confused looks on all of their faces, she proceeded to briefly scribble down all of their names the best she could above and below that circular line on all their hands, far easier said than done when it came to the katakana spelling for Nikolays' name.
After a full minute of this, Mina had somehow managed to half-legibly scribble down all of their names on the back of their hands, almost like copies of a list for each of them. Stuffing the marker back into her backpack, Minas' smile was bright, childlike and 100% heartfelt, even as she saw the remaining looks of confusion (and even a hint of annoyance in Kyoukas' case) on their faces at why she had just done what she did.
"Think of it like a good luck charm for the test, guys! We all made this study group together; we worked up sweat, tears, and maybe a drop of blood here and there together; we're all going into that test together, and we're all going to come out of it together. This way, we all remember we're not alone for a second in there, and we're all connected…well, kind of, you know?"
The deep sentimentality expressed through Minas' actions resonated with everyone, as Nikolay, Eijirou, Kyouka and Momo were smiling with the utmost gratitude for the kind of companionship she was expressing. In fact, for but a moment, Momo and Nikolay both actually looked like they were on the verge of getting misty-eyed, with the black-haired girl disguising wiping a tear from her eye by brushing a lock of her hair from her brow.
This unspoken new air of unbreakable friendship between the whole group was undeniable to any of them, even if the feel was only momentarily disrupted when Denki and Mashirao looked back to their hands, only for the blonde, tailed boy to suddenly notice something about the ink upon the back of his hand. "I'm sorry to change the subject, Ashido-san, but…this isn't permanent marker, is it?"
Mina and the rest of the study group visibly flinched at finally hearing the question they hadn't even stopped to ask, only for the final answer to come in the form of Denki instinctively sniffing at the writing on his own hand, only for his normally laid back expression to go fraught with dreaded realization. "Oh my god, IT IS!"
Minas' embarrassed laughter, thankfully, managed to ease the air as she apologized through it, briefly explaining how she had simply grabbed the first thing she could write with on her way out the door for just such an occasion as this, and hadn't bothered to look twice.
Fortunately, everyone was quickly able to appreciate the much-needed lightening in tone among them, as they finally decided they had spent enough time delaying the inevitable, and at last made their way into class, ready to face the written test of their end-of-term exam with everything they had.
Tuesday, July 2nd
The entire time between the end of the written test, to the beginning of the next school day, passed with the unspoken solemnity of simply awaiting the death sentence. Nobody in the class wanted to say anything; whether they did well or not, for fear it would somehow jinx their chances. Many of them, at least Nikolay had to assume based on his own experience, could barely even get a wink of sleep that night, simply out of fear of what their final grade on the written test would be when they would see the permanent final results on the school message boards come morning when they would return.
Alas, just like the test itself, Nikolay knew it was inevitable, and begrudgingly had to take Olegs' absence from home when he woke up that following morning as a bad omen of what was to come.
When he finally made it back to the front entrance of Yuuei, he immediately spotted his whole study group from amid the throng. He could feel his heart hammering away at his ribs, especially when he heard Mina, Kyouka and Eijirou calling over to him so he could come and see for himself. He wasn't sure if the energy in their voices was simply his mind playing cruel tricks on him or not. Nevertheless, with the deepest attempt at a steadying breath he could muster, Nikolay clutched his book bag for dear life and finally went forward to greet his friends and finally see what the results were.
"Kolya-kun, look! LOOK! DO YOU SEE IT?!" Minas' ecstatic tone was through the roof as she nearly met Nikolay with another running jumping hug of unbridled joy before he could even get the first word out. As he tried to gather the reality of the atmosphere he was feeling around him, he was met with numerous hearty shoulder grabs, high fives and half-hugs from many of his other study-mates as they ushered him forward to the board where all the final written test scores were posted for every single class, ranked by their scores out of a 100-point score system.
When Nikolays' gaze instinctively flew toward the grades for Class 1-A, he at first thought he was once more simply seeing things. But soon enough, the mood finally began to register to him as very, very real, and with the written proof as for why to go with it.
Printed up on 1-A's final written test scores, was Momo once again at the top of the class with a perfect 100/100.
Tenya was sitting firmly in second place at just 99/100.
Izuku was placed quite high at 96/100.
Kyouka was sitting comfortably at 91/100.
Mashirao sat right under at 90/100.
Eijirou was settled at 82/100.
Ochako was placed comfortably at 80/100.
And settled right beneath, were Nikolay and Mina, side by side, at 79/100 and 76/100 respectively!
Nikolay didn't even realize he was hyperventilating with disbelief and overjoyed shock until he felt Mina and Eijirou alike nearly lifting him off his feet with their own hugs of boundless relief and excitement, before she began pulling him in so their whole group could once again start thanking the equally overjoyed Momo, who still somehow managed to look embarrassed by all the praise, even though they all knew they owed her the world for making this result possible.
"Please, I don't want to have to repeat myself from yesterday, you guys, I was more than happy to help all of you, but you must remember to thank yourselves. It was all your dedication and hard work that made it possible. All I did was just give you the pointers you needed." Of course, even in the face of her rosy-cheeked humility, students like Denki and Hanta weren't about to back down.
"Oh, don't weigh yourself down with being so modest, Yaoyorozu-san, you're a damn lifesaver! Forest lodge summer, here we come!" Denki cheered as he and Hanta eagerly high-fived one another, only for Eijirou to start snickering in amusement, nudging Denki in the arm, simply for being closer.
"Man, you guys really run with the celebration no matter what, don't you? You two still managed to come out with the two lowest scores in the whole class!" Amid all the joy and laughter, Nikolay chanced another glance to the scores, and sure enough, Hanta and Denki were sitting right at the two bottom ranks of the whole class, sitting at 51/100 and 50/100 respectively.
"Ah, who cares about the numbers, man?! They said anything above plain 50 is a passing grade, and we passed, so there!" Hanta brushed it off with palpable excitement while Denki was pumping his fists very similar to how Mina often did, in a show of his own jubilation.
"Damn, if only Iida-san were here; he deserves some credit for helping us, too! Oh well, we've still got Yaomomo and Kolya-kun to thank for this! You two are our Heroes!" Mina cheered, trying to inch herself in closer, looking as though she were about ready to try lifting either Momo or Nikolay overhead in an attempt to start some kind of crowd-carrying spectacle in her excitement.
As Nikolay and Momo alike couldn't help but join in the celebratory laughter with all their fellows, the ponytail-wearing girl held her hand to her heart with an emotional glimmer in her black cat-like eyes.
"It makes me so happy to see you all manage to pull yourselves up through all this stress and come out successful, it truly does. Not only as your vice president, but…I would like to hope, even as a friend, it warms my heart to see you all come so far and display such focus, even when you all thought you wouldn't make it. I simply hope that you'll all learn to take this whole experience to heart, and perhaps try not to let your studies fall so far behind that you end up in such a position again," she expressed with a heartfelt happiness reflected in her stunning smile, while still managing to maintain her very mature and authoritative air at the same time.
"I agree, Yaoyorozu-san. This was probably one of the most stressful times of my life. If a little more studying each day can keep me from going through that again, then really, what's the harm?" Nikolay stated in full agreement, before quickly being pounced on from behind by Mina, playfully rubbing her knuckles against his scalp as he barely managed to keep from collapsing under her sudden weight being thrown on his back.
"Oh, come on, Kolya-kun, we just got through the written test, can't we stop talking about studying for at least a day and celebrate? The hard part's over, now we get to just breeze through smashing up robots, and then we got a whole kickass summer at an awesome lodge to look forward to!"
She finally decided to give Nikolay a break, stepping down from of his back before apologetically wiping the wrinkles off the back of his uniform with that trademark cheeky grin on her face as they all began making their way for class. "Oh, I cannot wait for this; this is gonna be a summer for all of us to remember, just you wait, Kolya-kun. We're gonna have so much fun together! We can stay up all night telling scary stories, go swimming and hiking, watch fireworks and maybe even go to a festival together! They're a blast, and everybody gets to wear such pretty yukatas for them, too, I can't wait! I especially can't wait to see how you'd look in one; I'll bet you'd look so cool! And hey, I'll bet there's going to be more than a few of our classmates looking forward to spending your first real summer with, too."
Nikolays' head was honestly awhirl, maybe even a touch overwhelmed, by the deluge of ideas and plans Mina was proposing for their first official summer together as a class, to the point that he didn't even notice how, by the very last comments of hers, Mina was glancing with a mischievous grin at Kyouka, who visibly trembled, as though she could just feel the pink girls' eyes focusing on her, with no doubt in her mind just what Mina was thinking, therefore picking up her walking pace considerably.
Now they had finally made their way into Class 1-A as Nikolay gave his best friend her desired answer: "I'm really excited for it too, Mina, believe me, I am. But we've still got this practical test to get through, and I don't know about you, but I just can't shake the feeling we're being led along, in terms of what we could be dealing with. If it were the same kind of robots from the Entrance Exam, that just feels too easy, especially for a school like this."
As Mina began taking her seat, the bustling chatter all around was pronouncedly broken by the mutual cheers of Denki and Minoru, both in the process of congratulating each other on passing. Nikolay was already ignoring what the two troublemakers were starting to discuss among themselves, before he suddenly felt the back of his collar being pulled back, forcing him unwittingly into the little whispering circle of his two classmates.
"Congratulations on joining the rest of our class in making the passing cut, Bezpalov. Rejoice; for we're all now officially halfway to our summer forest lodge nirvana; one step away from that glorious open air bath heaven! Take comfort, comrade, that all that nonstop studying is about to help make all your deeply hidden adolescent desires; those of every last one of us here, come to fruition!"
Minoru was once again losing himself in the overbearing poetic prose of his speech-making in the midst of his own excitement, while Denki was as painfully blunt as ever: "Be happy, man; once we breeze through this test, we're all gonna finally be able to relax in a nice and secluded spot, and finally get a chance to see all our fairer classmates in all their unspoiled, natural glory, bearing all you could ever hope to see. Welcome to the teenage boys' paradise, dude."
On one hand, Nikolay didn't want to be the one to put the pin in their less savory aims for their summer lodge trip; that was supposed to be Tenyas' job. On the other hand, the two boys around him were so shamelessly blatant about it, even more so than usual, he simply couldn't keep his incredulousness to himself. "You guys know you're just fooling yourselves, right? There's no way the school would actually let us go somewhere that had a mixed open air bath for boys and girls to mingle, that's sadly just a recipe for disaster."
However, Minoru hooked his arm around Nikolays' neck, almost starting to strangle him with how tense his tiny body was in his excitement. "Well, of course the school would try to impose those kinds of rules, but that's the beauty of the healthy adolescent spirit, my friend: they are there to prove that rules were made to be broken!"
"Yeah, man, what does it matter if we have to put in a little extra effort to see all the goods? The rewards would be a hell of a lot more than worth it. I mean, c'mon, Kolya-san, don't lie to us, but especially don't lie to yourself: you want to see a little bit more than what you already have, too, just like the rest of us, don't you? I just know there's gotta be at least one special someone in the bunch you'd like to get even just a brief little glimpse of, to store in the old memory bank."
As Denki continued with his prodding, Nikolay found himself at a mental impasse. As much as he hated to admit it to himself, let alone anybody else…the blonde boy leaning in all conspicuous-like did actually hit the nail partially on the head. It was downright foolish to think Nikolay hadn't been feeling his more adolescent desires start coming up lately, the more he got comfortable around and got to know the girls in his class; hell, even the few ones he'd met and come to recognize from other classes even.
And honestly, just the very idea of somehow being able to glimpse even just a little bit of any one of his female classmates, not in anything compromising, but simply a momentary glimpse of something more to their overall feminine beauty, left him feeling more than a few degrees warmer in the face.
And the more his mind was being forced to dwell on it, the more he found his train of thought returning specifically to—
"Attention, 1-A students. Please change into your Hero costumes, and report to the western entrance of the campus to receive your practical test instructions."
The sudden announcement from the intercom spurred Nikolay to hastily make his escape from between Denki and Minoru, while the rest of the class already began filing out for the locker rooms to change. Nikolays' heart was still pounding quite hard at his ribs, unable to shake the thoughts Denki had started convincing him to think quite so quickly, and each time he instinctively glanced to Mina as she kept bouncing happily every step of the way, he felt himself going through a whole other hot flash each time.
Thankfully, by the time he and the rest of the boys had changed into their costumes and reunited with the girls to make their way outside, Nikolay had managed to calm himself back down, able to compose himself even in Minas' presence again.
Although, as they all began making their way for the west entrance; Nikolay suddenly heard Momo calling his name from just beside him; catching him by surprise when he and Mina looked to find her keeping pace right alongside them while carrying a considerably long case in hand.
"I apologize, I realize this isn't exactly timely on my part, things just kind of went along a little too fast for me to give you these earlier." With that, Momo handed the case over to her Russian classmate, who only looked at the surprise offering with total confusion. However, not wanting to be rude, he gratefully took it off her hands, and while trying not to fall behind the rest of the cast, he opened it up, and felt his jaw go slack with disbelief at what he saw inside:
Inside was a pair of two large glistening tuning forks that looked like they could fit perfectly in each of his hands, complete with what looked like a leather belt-like harness that could fit around his waist for the two metal objects to sit comfortably at his sides. He and Mina both looked at their vice presidents' unexpected offering with wide-eyed wonder before finally looking back to the now bashful-looking young woman, who almost looked embarrassed by the overall reaction.
"I'm sorry it took me so long to finally get these out to you, Bezpalov-san, since you had asked all the way back in April. It took me a lot longer than I expected to figure out the elemental composition to create a steel that would not only be light enough for you to carry in one hand, but would also be durable enough to pack a punch if needed, and be able to withstand more than a few uses. Of course, I also needed to consider making them out of a metal that would be ideal for conducting the vibrations from your hands, as well, to add to the potential damage you could inflict as the situation calls for it. Hopefully these will be able to satisfy all the requirements you need to have a dependable melee option for your Quirk."
Nikolay was looking over the two large tuning forks now gripped securely in his hands, visibly amazed at just how perfect their weight felt, while Mina was helping with getting the harness secured on him at the same time. As he slipped his two new weapons into their respective (for lack of a better word) sheaths, he couldn't even try to hide the absolute childlike excitement on his face, returning his focus to Momo again.
"Oni chuvstvuyut sebya prevoskhodna (They feel perfect). Bolshoi spasibo (Thank you very much), Yaoyorozu-san. I wish we could've had time to properly test them out, but thank you. To be honest, I'd actually forgotten all about asking you for these back then. I'm honored you'd actually remember after all this time. Knowing you, I'm sure these will come in more than handy when the time comes."
While Nikolay was sure he was doing nothing more than giving Momo the gratitude she more than deserved after everything she had done for them all already; what he didn't even realize was just how visibly moved his praise had left her. That, on top of the praise she had received for all her study help from everyone else, had left her feeling the best about herself since the Sports Festival.
Once Momo began hurrying her way through the crowd of their classmates as they finally stepped outside, Mina playfully nudged Nikolays' side again, shooting him that playful smirk. "I know I've said it before, but man, just look at you, Kolya-kun! You really are becoming Mr. Popular; especially with the girls, aren't you? Getting gifts from Kyouka-chan, then me, and now from Yaomomo? I can't wait to see who you start charming next."
Of course her teasing left Nikolay blushing at the implication, even though he hurriedly tried to shrug it off, even as she started giggling in amusement at his totally flustered reaction. "H-hey, it's not like she did it totally of her own volition, Mina; not like you and Jirou-san. I asked her to make these for me, remember? This was just Yaoyorozu-san finally making good on it, that's all."
Mina couldn't stop smiling as she saw how her teasing had gotten into Nikolays' head. However, before either of them could say anything else, they realized the rest of their classmates had come to a stop. Standing before them all were not only Aizawa, but a grand total of eight of Yuuei's teachers standing vigilantly at his sides. Nikolay recognized them all on sight, from Present Mic, Thirteen, Snipe, Midnight and Cementoss, to a tall human-shaped figure in a trench coat and a black helmet with white eyes and grinning toothy mouth, the math teacher, Ectoplasm; and another human figure in a full-headed helmet that resembled a bulldozer, with long claw-like appendages, whom he recognized as the support course teacher, Power Loader.
Of course, that momentary observation was quickly replaced by Nikolay wondering the same thing he didn't realize the rest of his classmates were all thinking: if this practical test was actually going to be against robots, then why were there so many teachers here?
"Good morning, class. Glad to see you're all here, and on time. The practical test is going to begin shortly. Of course, it goes without saying that just because you all managed to pass the written test, doesn't mean it's just gonna be a walk in the park from here. You can just as easily fail this test, too. So if you all want to go to the forest lodge, then you'd best make sure we don't see any pitiful blunders from any of you."
Aizawas' blunt-as-ever introduction left a few of the students visibly uneasy, simply for the unknown as to why there had to be so many teachers here for this. However, their homeroom teacher was still far from finished: "I've no doubt that you all scrambled to try and get as much information as you could as to exactly what the practical test is going to involve. So I'm sure you all must have a pretty good notion what exactly it is you all have to do." Among them all, Nikolay suddenly felt alarms start going off in his head. There was no way Aizawa would make a comment like that if he didn't have something devious up his sleeve they didn't know about.
Unfortunately, his caution was hardly mirrored by anyone else, least of all Mina and Denki, who had already started prematurely celebrating between themselves: "Sure, just like the Entrance Exam, it'll be like a musou game, only with robots!" "OH YEAH! I CAN ALREADY SEE THE FIREWORKS! THE CURRY! THE DARE SESSIONS-!"
Suddenly, a small tuft of white suddenly erupted from out of the wrappings around Aizawas' neck, drawing surprised exclamations from over half the class; as Headmaster Nezu finally revealed himself; his typically enthusiastic demeanor a sharp contrast to the always tired and bitter-looking 1-A homeroom teacher. "Actually, I'm afraid not! Due to various reasons, we're changing the contents of the practical test, starting today!"
The entire class felt their confidence plummet, especially Mina and Denki, whom Nikolay could've sworn he'd heard a funeral bell ring when looking at the two of them, frozen in place as the news finally sank in. With his throat bone dry with apprehension, he barely managed to find the bravery to speak, already able to tell he wasn't going to like whatever answer he got: "H-Headmaster-sensei…what do you mean? What's this test going to be, exactly?"
The mouse headmaster scaled his way down Aizawas' body with one of his wrappings before brushing himself off and standing straight and confident before all the onlooking students. "Well…it has been coming to all our attention, the recent upswing in Villain activity over these last few months. The attack at USJ, the respective incidents with the Hero Killer: Stain and the Hunter of Heroes, Vukodlak. Such high-profile instances of Villainy aimed at students of Yuuei in such close succession to each other cannot stand to be ignored for the sake of complacency. And so, it has been decided, between all the teachers and myself, that for the sake of preparing all of you bright-eyed future Heroes the most responsibly, starting now, the practical test of your final exams is going to now focus more toward person-on-person battle activities instead, and emphasizing a teaching environment closer to that of real battle!"
As the bipedal mouse looked all the students in the eye, they could all simultaneously feel an electrical bolt rush through them at the almost invisible intensity he was now exuding, even with his non-assuming appearance. "Which, boys and girls, is all to say…that henceforth, we will have you all form pairs, to engage in combat with one of these educators that stands before you. Of course, as has come to be the case with this years' peculiar student numbering, there will have to be one exception, wherein there will be a single team of three, to go up against one."
Nikolay felt his blood go downright frigid as he saw the very same looks of uncertainty and nervousness reflected on nearly all of his classmates. Looking upon the teachers gathered, he could only mentally sigh with relief that Oleg wasn't apparently involved in this.
"Against…our sensei's…?" Ochako muttered nervously, while all the teachers' reactions and expressions were next to unreadable. It was hard for any of the students to tell if the teachers were actually looking forward to this, or had simply already resigned themselves to the necessity of it; with Headmaster Nezus' reaction being the most outwardly deceiving of all.
"That's right. Now, who you will all be teamed up with, and which teacher you will be fighting, has already been decided. The ways you tend to move, your grades, and your degrees of familiarity with each other; we personally judged how you'll all be pairing up based on all of these things, and we will be listing the matchups now." Once Nezu announced this detail, Nikolays' anticipation and anxiety left his stomach in knots, but at least there was one source of relief amid all the rest. If the Headmaster was indeed telling the truth about the team-up criteria, then he already had a very good idea who he would be teaming up with, which was calming enough on its own.
"Now then, our first pair-up will be between Todoroki Shoto and Yaoyorozu Momo…against me." The air grew downright grave as Aizawa announced this, and the unreadable grin he was wearing as he said this did not help.
Without missing a beat, the homeroom teachers' eyes then fell upon Izuku amid the crowd. "Then our second pair-up: Midoriya Izuku, you're with…Bakugo Katsuki as a team." Both boys in question instinctively flinched, looking at each other from across the crowd like they were hearing things; Izukus' reaction reflecting nervousness, while Bakugos' of course reflected pure indignation. Watching and hearing this announcement, Nikolay felt the loudest ringing of funeral bells in his head for his green-haired friend. Such a disastrous team-up sounded more like a cruel joke than anything else.
"As for who your opponent will be…" Before Aizawa could even make the announcement, a towering shadow suddenly fell upon the two boys, and the entire class turned like a flock of sheep, only to feel their jaws drop to the floor with disbelief, both in awe and horror, to find All Might himself towering over the two; fist clenched and smile as bright as ever as he announced with all his typical gusto: "I AM HERE TO OBLIGE! NOW COOPERATE, AND COME AT ME TO WIN, WONDER DUO!"
Now the funeral bells were practically clamoring, to the point Nikolay had to get nudged back to reality by another handy elbow from Eijirou nearby, as he realized with grim certainty that Aizawas' eyes had already fallen upon him.
"Normally I would've thought this team announcement would've been saved for last, but as for our only three-person team-up…I can't exactly say I'm surprised: we have Nikolay Bezpalov, Ashido Mina and Kaminari Denki teaming up together." Nikolay felt a veritable anchor lift from his shoulders as he instinctively let out a sigh of relief, right before being met with Mina eagerly clinging onto his arm with her own excitement, while Denki hurried over just as quickly, somehow still able to manage that confident grin on his face the whole while.
"Yes, and I shall be serving as our lucky trios' opponent today." The voice of Headmaster Nezu announced this with all the proper professionalism his position demanded, but even with his unassuming smile upon his snout, the three couldn't ignore that persisting air of intensity about him as his little black eyes met all three of them directly.
"You three have been through so much thus far into your time here at Yuuei…and now is the time for you all to demonstrate to everyone here exactly what it is you have all learned this term. So with that, I feel it is only fair you all know I intend to come at you three with everything I've got…and I would hope that you all intend to do the very same."
Even though none of them could muster up an answer, a sideways glance between them to meet each others' gazes thankfully confirmed they were all thinking the same thing: there was a lot more to their headmaster, their actual opponent, than his looks would have anyone believe, and they were going to be on the complete receiving end of it if they didn't take this even remotely seriously.
There was no getting around it: Class 1-A's real final exam was officially about to begin.
And there you have this weeks' chapter. Next week on 07/17, we will get a much more action-packed, and much more paced, helping to make up for the much more character-building two chapters I've given you. I hope you all enjoyed what you got here all the same, and I will be seeing you all with the next chapter next week!
Notations:
* Ben-Hur, an American 1959 religious epic film by William Wyler. Essential viewing for people who like historical epics like The Ten Commandments.
* The Mission, a British 1986 period drama by Roland Joffe. An unfairly overlooked classic in a similar vein to 'Dances With Wolves'.
*All Quiet on the Western Front, an American 1930 epic anti-war film by Lewis Milestone.
* The Grapes of Wrath, an American 1940 drama film by John Ford.
* Schindler's List, a 1993 epic historical drama by Steven Spielberg. Essential viewing for anyone who considers themselves either a student of history, or just an all-around compassionate human being. one of the very few films that leaves me a weeping mess every time I see it.
* Come and See, a 1985 Soviet anti-war film by Elem Klimov, often considered one of the most harrowing and greatest films ever made. All of these titles listed are essential viewing, but this one especially. Just make sure you've got a damn strong emotional constitution, because you're going to need it. Another of the very few films that brings me to tears every single time.