My Hero Academia: Son of Justice

by Jayme F. Midorikawa

The son of the disgraced former greatest Hero of The Soviet Union is extended a chance at a new life by the Symbol of Peace, All Might. After having lived so long resenting Heroes and Villains, and being scared to death of his own Quirk, will he be able to step forward and become the Hero he once dreamed of, and will he be able to find new purpose through friendship, or even love?

56. PHL Exam Arc Part 5 - Rescue Exam

Hello again, everyone, and welcome to the final 2021 chapter of My Hero Academia: Son of Justice, and it comes out on Christmas Day, so whether you all celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, or simply enjoy the holiday season in general, consider this my gift to every last one of you.

It certainly has been one heck of a year, hasn't it? We've gotten to visit beloved familiar moments and see them play out from a different perspective, and even see certain events change in ways small and big, and even gotten to see entirely original story arcs play out.

The fact that you've all loyally stayed with me through the highs and lows of this year while I've worked diligently to write this story and make it the best it can possibly be, is something I can never find all the words to properly express my gratitude for. You people are all amazing, every last one of you, and I mean that from the very bottom of my heart.

Here's to just as productive a 2022, a hopefully generally more pleasant year for all of us, as I know things have been far from easy for everyone, and I hope to continue providing you all with the quality entertainment, excitement and emotion that you've all come to expect from this story.

I would also like to announce that, in celebration of the holiday season, and since this is the last chapter of 2021, I've uploaded an appropriately festive piece of artwork on my page, 'ubasnaga' from a wonderful artist I've been commissioning all year round called Syyndev. They are absolutely fantastic, give them all the support you can, because they certainly deserve it.

Happy Holidays, everyone. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and if so, please maybe be so kind as to leave a review expressing your thoughts thus far.

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 result from their existence in this universe.

A/N: [[]] indicates that characters are contextually speaking Russian.

Chapter 57

Rescue Exam

(Спасательный Экзамен)

August 24th

On the cold and rain swept streets of an unsuspecting little town in the next prefecture north of Shizuoka, two figures were strolling side-by-side among the scattered denizens of the local nightlife, taking in their surroundings with barely a word, but with all the discerning in their gazes as was needed. Among the crowd, they didn't stick out at all: a taller middle-aged man with an icy blue Mohawk and wispy beard, with his ears and brows adorned with numerous piercings and red and yellow eyes. Beside him was a shorter young woman with long hair done in twin braids of differentiating streaks of red and white, big circular glasses over pink eyes, and her cheeks adorned with a spiraling pattern of freckles.

However, if the people minding their own business all around them had known just who these two strangers were under the literal surface, they would have easily drawn more attention to themselves; the very reason they and their allies had stayed so scattered far apart from one another unless it was deemed absolutely necessary, as it was now.

"How are you so used to wearing these already? It feels so weird, like wearing a silk stocking over your face! And couldn't you have at least made me a cute one that would go better with these clothes?" As Vukodlak and Himiko Toga had taken to dipping into one of the numerous back alleys of this small town they had been instructed to go to after their latest contact from the Broker, Giran; the Russian Villain had taken the liberty of making sure they were both disguised and dressed as differently as possible from normal in order to avoid standing out. All the while, he was keeping his eye open for their aforementioned contact through these shady neon-lit streets.

"First of all, I went with the specific details you asked for, so don't complain about it now. Second of all, don't keep fussing with it or you'll end up losing it. Just because this isn't an entirely savory neighborhood doesn't mean Heroes and police won't still be patrolling," Vukodlak warned his fussy partner for this particular mission, who childishly stamped her foot with a pair of puffed out cheeks.

"I know all that, but a girl still wants to look cute when she can, especially out in public. I thought this face would look cute, but seeing it now, it's not cute at all." However, rather than tell her once more to be quiet, Vukodlak's hand immediately rose, motioning for Himiko to stop. Just down the street and at the edge of a corner to the left, standing just barely in view underneath a dingy business sign over a doorway leading underground, was Giran himself, doing the smart thing and keeping himself dressed in a way that wouldn't make his face instantly noticeable to just anyone on the street. Thankfully he had told his clients exactly what getup to look out for when meeting time came.

Giran was quick to realize who the two otherwise unrecognizable strangers approaching him specifically were. After all their communication in setting up this little meeting, he would have been a fool not to. "Glad to see you two could make it on time. I see you're making good use of our former associate's Quirk already. Come on, it's just down this way… and apologies in advance for the noise."

As Vukodlak and Himiko followed the Broker down the steps, the ambient noises of the nightlife quickly began to give way to a muffled rumbling of pure noise from below. Halfway down, Giran suddenly began fishing through his pockets before pulling out two small slips of paper and handing them to his two associates. "My acquaintance is very serious about keeping himself below the radar, so he only ever sees people I personally recommend to him, and even then, only if they're able to pass his security credentials. Just stick with me and I'll get you both in. Just make sure you memorize what's written on those papers first."

With that, once they had both specifically dedicated the scribbling to memory, Vukodlak and Himiko quickly crumpled them both up and stuffed the papers into their pockets, just as Giran finally stopped at a graffiti-spattered steel door, giving a rhythmic knock. The slat at the top briefly opened; the inside being too dark for Himiko to really see the bouncer on the other side, but Vukodlak could easily tell from the fact Giran had to look through at an upward angle, that they were big.

Just as quickly as it had opened, the slat slammed shut, and with a number of grinding sounds and clicks of unlatching locks, the door creaked open, and as Giran motioned for the two Villains to follow him inside, Vukodlak and Himiko were greeted by an absolute wall of thrashing noise reverberating off the walls and ceiling, as they stepped into a grungy underground heavy metal club.

[Invictus – Sinkhole of Ghouls]

The air was heavy with the stale stench of cigarette smoke and cheap booze as the newly arrived trio made their way through the mingling crowd toward the bar. Along the way, Vukodlak hurriedly brought two fingers to his own throat and ran them in a circle around his voice box once before just as quickly bringing his hand back down. By then, Giran came to a stop before the bar, where a heavily tattooed boulder of a man with his brows lined with steel bolts stood vigilant, watching over the entire place, especially on the two unfamiliar faces accompanying the gap-toothed grinning man.

"What'll it be?" he grumbled with an especially gravelly voice, and without even missing a beat, Giran wrapped his knuckle against the bar once, and then twice in quicker succession. "A house special with a little extra hair of the dog, and a dash of pepper oil."

The bartender gave only the slightest of acknowledging grunts before his eyes shifted to Vukodlak and Himiko. "And your acquaintances?"

Remembering their instructions, Vukodlak leaned in first, wrapping his knuckle in three rapid hits, then one prolonged knock, and then two moderately spaced apart-knocks at the end. "A railroad spike with two shots of scotch, an egg and ethanol for a spark."

Once the bartender's eyes drifted to her; Himiko was almost too eager by the way she stepped in, smiling from ear to ear as she knocked her knuckles against the bar in the same pattern as her partner. "A gin and coke with a cherry bomb, a dash of vanilla shavings, and a sprinkling of gunpowder for that special kick."

Even despite the smile on her face, Himiko couldn't help but momentarily worry she'd screwed a detail up when the bartender gave no visible notice that Giran's little code had worked. However, with another annoyed grunt, the massive man suddenly began making his way for the door behind the bar. "You all want the special shit; you'll have to come with me."

With that, Giran gave his two compatriots a confident wink, and soon they were once more descending down yet another staircase into an even dingier level, probably at the same level as the sewers, if not even lower.

Giran leaned in to Vukodlak and whispered out the side of his mouth to keep the bartender from overhearing: "Your voice is suddenly a lot different than it was the last time. Another little gift from you and your team's overlying benefactor, I assume?"

"You'd be correct. You never know if there are any Heroes or law-abiding citizens with Quirks geared towards specific vocal cord signature recognition. Assume they heard my voice through the news from months ago, heard me out there and made the distinction? Next thing you know, you have every Hero in the area looking for me, and potentially any one of our merry little band. This is just an extra precaution."

By the time Vukodlak finished giving this explanation, he suddenly heard Himiko let out a discomforted grumble from beside him. "All that talk about those ugly drinks up there got me thirsty."

As much as he could appreciate her enthusiasm for what they were doing, Vukodlak couldn't resist rolling his eyes at what a child Himiko clearly still was. "Forget it; Villain or not, you're still underage. Just save it for when we're done out here."

With that, they finally reached the bottom of this particular stairwell, and the bartender gave a pronounced knock at yet another heavy steel door. Putting his ear to it, he was quick to hear a muffled response that none of the others could hear, but he had been specially trained to pick up on. With that, he finally opened the handle and motioned for the three to step inside.

[Darkthrone – Hordes of Nebula]

With yet another wall of heavily distorted metal noise echoing out to greet them, Giran, Vukodlak and Himiko stepped into a room that could only have been described as the filthiest shut-in computer geek's haven; with a multitude of empty beer cans, food boxes and computers of varying states of wear and tear scattered and hooked up all around, while only a single young man sat with his back to them, busily working at several different computers at once.

"Shin-kun, long time no see!" Giran immediately greeted the moment they heard the door shut behind them. The individual known as Shin didn't bother turning to address his three guests. From what Vukodlak and Himiko could make of him, he was dressed in a really aged red biker jacket, moth-eaten faded jeans and had long, ratty teal-colored hair hanging from underneath a button-covered beanie.

"You're late. I thought we agreed no time other than 21:03 on the dot." It was clear there was no patience for small talk or good-humored ribbing to be found in Shin, thus Giran quickly cleared his throat. "That was the plan, but we had to take precautions in terms of timing and where and how to meet, you understand. With All Might out of the picture, not only are Villains getting way bolder, but the other Heroes and the cops are getting way more attentive."

With a pronounced tap of his fingers against another enter key on one of his computers, Shin let out an exasperated sigh and finally turned in his swivel chair, finally revealing a face looking to be in his late twenties with messy stubble, aviator sunglasses missing one lens, revealing a single eye of both brown and blue; and a single cigarette hanging from a mouth of two missing front teeth.

"You're not telling me anything I don't already know too well, Giran-san. The whole reason my business is able to stay up and running is because I know when to pack up my shit and leave if the Heroes and cops get too nosy. Now are you and your associates here for a reason, or did you just come here to wax idiotic?" Giran still somehow managed to maintain that easygoing grin, holding an open hand up in front of Himiko and Vukodlak when he could glimpse them both flinching out the corners of his eyes.

"Of course, of course. My friends, would you care to fill Shin-san here on exactly why we're here?" With that, he withdrew his hands, allowing the two Villains to step forward; this time even Himiko was managing to maintain a serious demeanor to show this strange man they meant business.

"We're looking to hit a couple different targets at once in two different locations, possibly two different times. However, the information as to when and where is kept locked up really tight within the confines of the government. We understand you're the man to see if you want to get into the places normal people aren't supposed to get into."

As Vukodlak explained all this, Shin took a single lengthy drag of his cigarette and let out a long exhale of rancid smoke. "Whether I decide to help you out on this little venture or not depends. I'm the kind of guy who relishes a challenge. Any idiot who thinks himself tough enough could come to me for a means to get into a heavily secured bank or the like, but that's gotten so old-hat. So where exactly is it you're hoping I can get you to?"

Without missing a beat, Himiko answered with just a twinge of that same energy as always: "We wanna know where and when this year's second Provisional Hero License Exam is being held, specifically for Yuuei Academy's Class 1-A; and also where and when the next Pro Hero License Exam is being held."

Even with the raw metal music blaring inside, the whole room hung with an especially heavy silence, as Vukodlak, Himiko and Giran were simply watching Shin, trying to gauge some kind of reaction from him, who simply sat back, took an even longer drag and let out another plume, deep in contemplation.

Finally, putting his cigarette out, he actually started to chuckle to himself. Finally, he removed his glasses so he could look to his three guests unobstructed. "Well now… that's definitely a new one if nothing else. The Hero Public Safety Commission's always been very protective of any of their info, but especially more now that All Might's gone. It's certainly not gonna be—"

"A quick word of advice, if I may, Shin-san!" Giran instantly interjected the moment he heard what he thought Shin was about to say; only made worse when he saw Vukodlak instinctively twitch two of his fingers. "From one expert in the business of being discreet to another: if one really wants to survive for long in this environment, one should really learn to have some good unspoken faith in their compatriots."

Vukodlak shot a knowing glance back to Giran, clearly understanding just what the League's Broker was trying to prevent from happening again. At least this man had clearly gotten the message from last time. However, before anything else could be said, Shin once again started laughing, drawing all their attention back to him, just in time to see him at last remove his beanie.

What they were treated to was the sight of multiple cords and USB plugs extending from out of Shin's scalp, which he immediately proceeded to start jabbing into several of the countless similar plugs set up on the numerous different machines all across the room, forcing Himiko to duck down to avoid getting jabbed in the face with one. Once they were all in place, Shin's eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he immediately began typing away at the several laptops before him at inhuman speed. "What I was about to say was that it's not going to be easy…but that's what makes it all the more exciting. I'll do it for nothing, just for the sake of the challenge!"

The speed at which Shin's fingers flew was more than even Vukodlak's sharpened senses could keep up with. Himiko couldn't even pretend to be interested in the technicalities of how he did what he was doing; she was simply swaying her body back and forth and twiddling her thumbs in boredom, just waiting for them to finally get what they came for so they could leave. The noise and the smell were both getting to be increasingly much. All the while, Giran could only anxiously light up a cigarette of his own, still visibly in shock that his associate was actually volunteering to do this job for no money.

"Ugh, why do we have to get this info this way? Why couldn't we do it the same way as we did… before?" Himiko finally asked, only remembering to leave out any revealing details once Vukodlak shot her an especially serious glare. The last thing they needed was for this stranger to figure out exactly who they were, just on the off chance he wasn't as smart as he seemed, at least in the field of self-preservation.

"Because with Heroes and cops becoming far more attentive on the ground level, and with all the Hero schools taking their own security far more seriously, our original source of inside information isn't an option right now. You should've been paying attention when he told you all this before we got sent here. Now quiet down." As Vukodlak summed this up bluntly enough to get through Himiko's head, he once more stood vigilant with his arms crossed, simply counting down the seconds.

After a solid five minutes of waiting, Shin suddenly broke the monotony with another resounding tap of his finger against his keyboards, letting out a triumphant laugh as he spun about in his swivel chair. "BOOM! And we are officially in, though we only have about forty-five seconds before I have to take us out so we don't get traced back, so hurry up and put down whatever info you need!"

Like track runners waiting for the starting gun, Vukodlak and Himiko hurried over to look over the numerous windows of information Shin had managed to pull up for them from within the most secured channels of info within the Hero Public Safety Commission. It was all here: locations, dates, specific times, and even the precise names of schools and participants for both Provisional and Pro Hero License Exams.

Vukodlak was dedicating everything to memory while Himiko was hurriedly scribbling on her palm with a pen. By the time they were both finished, she practically threw the pen to the floor to signal they were finished, and just like that, Shin hit another sequence of keys and pulled the USB plugs attached to his scalp free from their respective plugs, restoring everything back to normal.

"Thank you all for giving me the opportunity. I'd been dying to find a system that could challenge my getting in that thoroughly. If you ever have something of similar importance or challenge you need me to get through for you, please, don't hesitate to ask. And on the off-chance I need to uproot and move camp, just contact Giran there. He'll always know where to find me… for better or for worse."

With that and a semi-professional extension of farewells from all, Vukodlak, Himiko and Giran finally took their leave from this underground rabbit hole, and from the foul-smelling and deafening club it resided under. The cold of the nighttime air was far more refreshing by comparison this time around once they stepped back out.

"As always, it's a pleasure doing business with you. We'll let our colleagues know you came through for us, and you'll receive your payment at the agreed upon spot." Vukodlak assured Giran, making sure to still avoid using any names, following his own advice from before. The Broker himself simply nodded with enthusiasm.

"Of course, I had no doubt in my mind, and likewise, don't hesitate to come to me if you need anything else." With that, Himiko was already starting to take her leave, with Vukodlak following close behind, before momentarily stopping at the mouth of another alley, and looking back to the weasel of a man.

"As a matter of fact, another reason we've been staying separate from each other lately is because we're also looking for any potential new recruits to assist us. If you know of anyone you really think we can trust who can pull their weight against Heroes, don't hesitate to let us know." This offer already looked to be having Giran's mental cogs turning something fierce, and with another farewell, Vukodlak finally took his leave, reuniting with a brightly grinning Himiko so they could finally contact Kurogiri and get themselves warped back to their original locations.

Now that they knew where to strike and when, they could finally start preparing for how to get Tomura and the good doctor the information they needed on their most-watched Hero adversaries within Yuuei; the info that would potentially be able to give them the advantage they needed to wipe them all out to the last one.

---

Takoba National Stadium, September 1st

Once the unparalleled destruction of the entire elaborate setup of the stadium grounds had finally ceased, the whole waiting room was still deathly silent with pure shock. None of the one-hundred remaining examinees could even find the words, not only for what they had just seen happen to the exam grounds they had just gone through that insane elimination round in, but specifically for what their supervisor, Yokumiru Mera, had explained was going to happen next; the real heart of their Provisional License Exam: a legitimate Rescue Exam!

This was it, their long-awaited mutual opportunity to really prove their worth in the field that was inarguably the most important in a Hero's repertoire: their ability to save those who could not save themselves. Nikolay, Mina, Izuku, Eijirou, Ochako, the entirety of Class 1-A and every single examinee from every remaining Hero school around them could all feel their fists clench and their hearts race with anxiety and anticipation indivisible.

As soon as he was really sure the gravity and definition of their real exam had efficiently set in, Mera continued to speak through the intercoms of the waiting room: "At this disaster site, we'll be having you all conduct rescue maneuvers. Not just as ordinary citizens, but also as individuals who have acquired these licenses before, the bystanders you will be rescuing will test all your abilities to adequately carry out rescue operations."

As Mera continued to drive the final point home, and the examinees all continued observing the destruction on-screen, more and more of them began to pick up unmistakable movement amid the ruins. It soon became clear that what they were seeing wasn't just a trick of faulty video quality.

"What the?! Elderly and children?! What the heck are they trying to do; it's dangerous to go in there!" This was soon the unifying outcry of not just Class 1-A, but the entire waiting room, as they could soon see well over a hundred different elderly people of varying shapes and sizes wandering into the ruins in varying degrees of injury, with just as many children in much the same shape.

"These individuals you all see before you have gone through all sorts of training and are now much sought after by institutions like this to assist in the training of aspiring young future Heroes like yourselves. They're all a part of HUC, which is short for the 'Help Us Company.'" As Nikolay was busily watching all the people drifting apart and making their way to different sections of the obliterated stadium ground, much like Izuku, Shoto and Tenya; he could also start to pick up some of the side chatter from the other examinees and his other classmates, with many expressing momentary surprise and resultant understanding that such a job as 'professional rescuee' would actually exist in a society like this one. The young Slav himself was honestly surprised his father had never mentioned such an entity existing back in his heyday.

"Disguised as normal injured victims, members of the HUC are scattered throughout the battlefield on standby… and it is all of you who will be carrying out their rescues. What's more, all of your rescue activities will be scored on a point system. By the time we've completed all of the activities, those who exceed the average value will pass. We'll be starting in ten minutes, so now is the time to go the restroom, eat, drink, form teams, strategize, whatever you feel like."

With that, the intercom finally shut off, and just like that, countless other examinees were already starting to do just as had been suggested, chattering among themselves on where to go and how to best utilize their skills for rescue. All the while, Nikolay was still taking in the scale of the destruction and trying to think of who he could work best with and how they could try to best rescue people. He hadn't even realized he had been absentmindedly approaching the screen to get a better look, until he'd ended up right next to Izuku and was stirred out of his withdrawn state by the seriousness in an approaching Tenya's voice: "Midoriya-san, Bezpalov-san. You all see it too, right?"

Nikolay couldn't help but look confused, but Izuku couldn't take his eyes off the screen; a grim realization reflected in them. "Yeah… they might be modeling this after the Kamino Incident."

The moment his green-haired friend noted this, Nikolay's eyes instantly went back, and now he couldn't avoid the similarity if he tried. The sheer destruction of the city and urban landscapes was unmistakable. Even if he didn't see it, the recognition was starting to register in the rest of his classmates who had also been there that fateful night, as Eijirou now had a visibly shaken look in his eyes like Momo, and Mina was only barely trembling with the remembrance.

All the while, Tenya had a deeply troubled look in his eyes as he spoke: "Back then, we did what we could to keep Bakugo away from the Villains… were intent on not getting in the way of the Pros. Amidst all that, there were still many, many casualties."

Such an awful reminder had Momo and Mina clenching their fists with a swelling of emotion, with Eijirou and Nikolay both bowing their heads in remembrance and shame; a shame they couldn't help but feel even though they knew there was ultimately nothing they would have been able to do to change it.

With his thoughts racing as he once more looked at the destruction on screen, Nikolay finally answered their class president's regretful words: "You know, in a twisted way, it actually kind of makes sense they're doing it like this."

His surrounding classmates now couldn't help but look to their foreign friend, with Izuku and Shoto both starting to recognize the very train of thought Nikolay was going down the further he spoke, as it was virtually the same as their own: "Since the Kamino Incident was where All Might had to ultimately retire, it only makes sense they would have us go through a similar scenario to see how many of us have what it takes to try and fill the gap he left behind. I guess you could call this a test for literally seeing how many of us are being passed the torch at the end."

This realization had quickly wiped away the lingering sadness and uncertainty on Mina and Momo's faces, and soon all of the former Bakugo Rescue Team could feel that unifying fire of determination ignite in their chests; determination, and the desire to make sure they could all ensure All Might's sacrifice wasn't for nothing. Despite this and the clenched fists at his side, Nikolay still couldn't help but let out a nervous chuckle the more he thought about what they were about to do. "All that being said, though… this is still the first time we're really doing this with actual people, huh? I honestly can't even imagine what curriculum we're getting scored on, and that's pretty unsettling in itself."

Despite this momentary shake in his demeanor, it did nothing to diffuse the spirits of his teammates, as Izuku simply brought a fist to his open palm in preparation, giving his gathered teammates and friends an inspiring glance that offset the deathly serious look on his face. "No matter how it is we're being scored… let's all do our best together."

This instantly sent Mina and Eijirou into mutual cheers of likewise support, fists raised to the air, with Momo awkwardly following suit shortly after, and Tenya almost being too intense as he did the same. In the end, though, fortunately; Nikolay was finally able to do the same, much to his friends' shared relief.

"Well then, with that all being said and agreed upon, I suggest we start discussing teams and where we should focus our efforts for—"

"MIDORIYAAAA!" The moment Tenya had started to suggest teaming up, while Eijirou had taken the moment to duck for the snack bar, they were all swiftly interrupted by the simultaneous screeching and infuriated shouts of Minoru and Denki, as they practically bum-rushed an unsuspecting Izuku with pure rage on their faces.

"WHAT EXACTLY WERE YOU DOING, YOU JERK?! AND WHILE THE REST OF US WERE HAVING SUCH A HARD TIME OUT THERE, TOO?! I HAVE TO FIGHT FOR MY LIFE AGAINST SOME FREAK WHOSE FLESH TURNS PEOPLE INTO MEATY NIGHTMARES, AND YOU GO GETTING A FULL HELPING OF EYE CANDY?!"

"SERO WENT AND TOLD US JUST WHAT HAPPENED WITH YOU AND THAT SHIKETSU HIGH GIRL! YOU'VE GOT A HELL OF A LOT OF NERVE, AND IN THE MIDDLE OF THE EXAM, TOO! DO YOU THINK THIS IS SOME KIND OF JOKE?!" As Denki was trying to grab Izuku by the hair and Minoru was trying to clock him with his fists, Izuku was just the picture of total confusion, trying to fight his two classmates off, while the others were simply too shocked to instinctively intervene.

However, the recognition of what Minoru had specifically said quickly registered with all of them just as quickly, as soon all eyes were following the purple-haired boy's accusing finger, pointing across the room to the aforementioned girl in the skintight leather cat-suit, light brown hair and glossy lips, who seemed to just as quickly notice that she was now the center of all their attention.

Just as quickly did her confusion turn into the strangest kind of delight, as she formed an indiscernible, perhaps even flirtatious smile and gave the slightest wave of greeting. While it could have easily been mistaken for being extended to all the Yuuei kids she could see; Izuku and Nikolay could both specifically feel that jolt that came with the realization that they were both the focus of her attention, smile and greeting all in one.

"SEE?! Doesn't that look like the kind of greeting you would see between a guy and a girl who have secretly developed a close relationship?! And what the hell was she giving you that look for, Bezpalov!? Did you do the same thing with her, too?! You think you're such hot stuff just because the girls all think you've got a delicate-looking pretty boy face?!" Already, Minoru and Denki's anger was now being directed towards the flustered Russian boy just as well as Izuku, forcing him to try and block off their frustrated grabbing hands right alongside him, while Mina for once couldn't help but find the whole display unexpectedly hilarious.

"Aah! Aah; wait! I get it, you said Sero-san was the one that told you? You guys have got it all wrong! It all had something to do with her Quirk! Really! It was seriously terrifying!" Even as Izuku tried to explain this; the free-for-all simply would not cease, even as Nikolay was trying to pry Denki off of Izuku, while Minoru was angrily gnawing on his arm, blinded with enraged tears.

"Ow! Would you cut it out?! What are you trying to say, Midoriya-san? AGH! What exactly happened?!" By this point, Tenya and Mina finally decided to intervene, prying both boys off of their winded friends, and allowing Izuku the chance to finally explain everything.

"During the last exam, that girl came after me. Every time I tried to fight back, she was somehow able to disappear even after I took my eyes off her for just a second. After a short while, she even tried to attack me while she was disguised as Uraraka-san. When I saw through it all, she let the disguise go, but she was completely naked under it. That leads me to believe that not only does Shiketsu High somehow teach its students how to camouflage themselves, but that her Quirk has something to do with her clothing, like she isn't able to do a complete disguise while wearing her own, or else it breaks the illusion. That's as far as anything went involving her, though, I swear! The real Uraraka-san and Sero-san intervened just in time after that."

With the whole truth finally revealed, Denki and Minoru were still visibly fuming at Izuku's supposed "luck," while Tenya looked just as fascinated by Izuku's theory as the boy himself did. At the same time, Nikolay and Mina were now both visibly blushing bright red, not just for the sake of Izuku's experience, but now especially for the fact that the Shiketsu girl had been consistently giving those same flirting smiles towards the Russian boy himself. Remembering this, now on top of the fact the girl clearly had no qualms about getting naked in order to get close to those she had her eyes on, had Mina suddenly feeling a burst of what she could only describe as protective instinct burning in her chest, looking at Nikolay now.

In the middle of it all, though, Ochako looked to have no visible reaction whatsoever. However, if one had looked closely in that spare moment, they would have been able to see a great deal of conflict reflected in her eyes, just thinking about Izuku in such circumstances… and the confusion that and everything else over the last few weeks had left her reeling with.

"Hey, guys, we've got company." Eijirou suddenly announced casually from the snack table, spurring all of his nearest classmates to attention, just in time to find they were being approached by, of all people, a handful of other Shiketsu students, once again easily spotted by their matching black berets; and with Inasa Yoarashi's now-unmistakable form towering over all of them. Standing at the forefront of them was a single one who looked to only be wearing the signature black pants, for their entire upper body was covered in a thick golden fur, with only a single eye visible from amid it.

While Nikolay, Mina and Izuku were all keeping an eye out for the sole girl among them, the hairy student looked to have his focus set solely on an especially apprehensive-looking Bakugo. "Yeah? What do you want?"

Even despite his less-than-polite greeting, the hairy Shiketsu student gave no sign of irritation, and instead spoke with a surprising air of calm and professionalism: "Bakugo-san. My apologies for our intruding on you and your class's strategizing time, but… Shishikura-san, our classmate with the especially slitted-eyes… did he by any chance bump into you during the last exam?"

While Eijirou, Sero and Nikolay were all similarly taken aback by the approaching student's intense hair, among others; Bakugo continued standing his ground. "Yeah. What about him? I won and he lost, simple as that."

While Denki was looking particularly incredulous at the fact he was the one that had to do the majority of the fighting back then, but was instead having his contribution completely shrugged off; the Shiketsu boy leading the conversation was still remaining as open and non-hostile as could be, to an admirable degree, even: "That's what I thought. I can imagine he must've said a number of especially impolite things to you and your allies at that time. Judging by your jittery friend there's reaction, I can see they really must have rubbed more than a couple of you the wrong way, depending on who was there. He was probably just trying to impress his values on you. He must have just gotten carried away, bumping into someone who's already as well-known as you."

With that, the hairy Shiketsu student actually proceeded to visibly bow forward to Bakugo and the other Yuuei students around, allowing his one visible eye to really show in order to emphasize the intent of his words. "Despite the air Shishikura-san may have given you all, the truth is that we at Shiketsu High would really like to establish a positive relationship with Yuuei Academy. And so on his behalf, I would like to say we are all dearly sorry."

While those like Bakugo and Denki looked fairly apprehensive to such a forward extension of an olive branch from the Hero school that was supposed to be their biggest rival, others like Minoru were simply glaring barely restrained daggers at Izuku at the words 'good relationship.' Then, on the other hand, since they hadn't had the experience of facing off against any Shiketsu students during the last exam, others like Nikolay, Mina and Momo were visibly happy to see there didn't seem to be any hard feelings between their schools right now.

"Well then, with that all being said, we'll leave you to your planning. Apologies for interrupting, again." With that, the hairy Shiketsu boy and his classmates simultaneously made an about face and proceeded to leave. Nikolay and Izuku were about to do the same so they could get back to planning, before Shoto suddenly stepped forward. "Please hold on. You, with the crew cut."

Everyone stopped, as Shoto now found himself facing down the back of Yoarashi himself, easily being dwarfed by his imposing height and naturally intense gaze. "Did I do something to you?"

Out of nowhere, the intense enthusiasm they had all seen on Yoarashi's face up until now had vanished without a trace; for the glare he shot towards Shoto over his shoulder was the very picture of malice, enough to make every one of the nearby Yuuei students feel a sudden chill. "Oh?"

As he finally turned to give Shoto his full attention, the red-white-haired boy never broke his focus from Yoarashi's eyes, nor did he give any outward sign of even being remotely intimidated. And yet, from what everyone else could see and hear; this only seemed to silently anger the Shiketsu powerhouse that much more, especially when he began to speak without an ounce of the forward excitement he had before: "Welp, m'apologies, but… truth is, Endeavor's boy… I HATE YOU BOTH."

This seemed to get an instinctive flinch out of Shoto for the first time, while everyone else could feel a nervous twisting in their stomachs. What on earth was it about Shoto that had suddenly made Yoarashi start speaking with such thug-like disrespect and spite?

"Since that time, it looks like your attitude has only changed a little bit, but… but those eyes of yours… they're just the same as Endeavor's." With that, Yoarashi was suddenly called back by his classmates, and just as quickly as his enthusiastic demeanor had vanished did it come right back. Now he was off, leaving a visibly bothered Shoto in his wake, not even watching the retreating Shiketsu boy's back, but staring off into an unseen, but undoubtedly familiar horizon from where Izuku and Nikolay were both standing, while the rest of their classmates could only watch on and wonder to themselves what on earth was going on between their classes' most powerful student, and Shiketsu's.

While Izuku was already starting to try and reach out to Shoto, doubtless to try and consult him, Nikolay was similarly watching the boy's demeanor, which was indeed silent, but clearly anything but peaceful. 'This is the first time I've seen Todoroki-san look like this since the Sports Festival. I know we should try to say something… but unless we knew just why that Yoarashi guy would say that, then I wouldn't even know where to start.'

However, both Nikolay and Izuku were abruptly broken from their mutual worry, when the green-haired boy was suddenly interrupted by a friendly "See ya later" from the now-infamous Shiketsu girl as she was beginning to follow after the rest of her classmates, making Izuku instinctively and nervously nod in acknowledgment.

Just as Nikolay was about to step in this time and make sure Izuku was feeling all right, he made the mistake of accidentally making even a split second's worth of eye contact with that same girl, forcing him to look her dead-on out of simple politeness, just in time for her to give the young Slavic boy an especially flirtatious wink with a pensive finger to those glossy lips, just before taking her hand away to wave goodbye. "Here's hoping I'll get to see you during this next exam, cutie."

With Izuku's words of her having been completely nude mere minutes ago still echoing loudly in his head, in the wake of her expressing such sentiment his way, Nikolay's whole face was like a tomato as he was now the one repeatedly nodding in acknowledgment while at a complete loss for words, while she left giggling to herself the entire way. All the while, Minoru and Denki were once again trying to make the two boys' heads explode with their thoughts; they were so consumed with adolescent jealousy.

At the same time, Ochako and Mina could both only watch the whole proceedings, while feeling their hearts simultaneously pounding with protectiveness and emotional overwhelm all in one. Mina felt the compulsion to simply hold Nikolay close for no other reason she could name than pure instinct, while Ochako was remembering the pink girl's words from the dorms; the certainty with which she had said them, and the state of total uncertainty in herself that they had left the poor gravity girl reeling with ever since then.

As she kept switching her gaze from the flustered Izuku to the retreating Shiketsu girl, Ochako's hands suddenly began to clench into trembling fists of frustration; not with him or her… but with herself. 'Oh, geez… why am I suddenly feeling like this?! My feelings have been all over the place for weeks now… but why is it so much worse now?! I was able to stay focused while we were fighting in the exam… but now? Oh geez… if I don't say something, anything now… I don't know if I could be able to handle it. But what would I even say?'

While Ochako's mind was pondering this most painful question, her body was already taking the reins, as she was beginning to take the first step towards Izuku, catching the shocked attention of Mina right at her side, able to read the similarly conflicted emotions on her rosy-cheeked friend's face in a heartbeat. 'Oh my God… Urara-chan… are you actually gonna say something to him?!'

Fists clenched tight to the point her knuckles were turning white, and sucking in the deepest breath she could, Ochako's eyes were burning into the back of Izuku's head as she finally began to open her mouth. "De—"

BZZZZZT!

The entire waiting room suddenly began blaring with a klaxon alarm without warning, making all the examinees instinctively flinch, as an emergency alert voice began echoing from the intercoms: "Attention! Villains have committed an act of terrorism! The affected area is the entirety of *Name Redacted* City! The destruction of numerous buildings has resulted in multiple victims!"

At that note, the now-familiar groaning of metal began to sound from all around, as the wall at the end of the waiting room began to descend, leading back out into the now-devastated stadium grounds. Nikolay and his classmates' instinctive surprise was thankfully quick to change to laser-focus once it became clear that the time for the exam to begin was finally upon them. They had lost their chance to more thoroughly plan what they were going to do, but they all still felt a confidence that, knowing exactly what was being expected of them, they would be able to improvise and find their way, just as they always had before.

"The damage to roads is severe! The first-response emergency unit will be considerably late to arrive! Until they arrive, all rescue activities on-site will be left to Heroes' command! Save every life you can! START!"

With that and another deafening sounding of the alarm, the entire gathering of a hundred examinees practically came charging out onto the stadium grounds, with Inasa Yoarashi unsurprisingly taking the lead by a leap and a bound, propelling himself through the air far ahead of everyone else. From the word go, what was once starting out as a herd of Quirked humanity began to spread out at both sides, with several examinees forming groups on the run, heading straight for numerous different sections of the destroyed grounds.

Even as he was trying so hard to keep pace with everyone else, especially his classmates, it was quickly becoming very clear to Nikolay just how much the organizers of this exam were trying to emulate the real thing. Not only was the stadium blaring with all kinds of the ambient noise one could expect from a disaster site like this, from fire alarms to car alarms to emergency sirens, but they were even starting to fill the air with the smell of smoke from fires and the unmistakable smell of water mist from ruptured water lines.

In fact, the more he was taking in the extensive damaging of his surroundings on top of these ambient sounds and smells, it was starting to prove too immersive, as Nikolay could swear he was starting to hear the cries of a baby somewhere within the wreckage, but for the life of him, he couldn't figure out where it was coming from; and all the while, he didn't even realize just how tense his whole body was becoming, reflected in the jerkiness of his movements as he continued running in alongside his friends.

"In any case, everyone, let's head to the nearest affected urban zone! Let's try to move in teams!" Izuku's urgent instructions as he took the lead thankfully managed to get Nikolay out of the current freefall into the depths of his head, as he shook his head and kept his eyes open for the first sign of someone in need. To neither his nor anyone else's surprise, somewhere along the way, Bakugo had split off from the rest of the class, and Eijirou and Denki had once more decided to follow after him.

As they made their way into the ruins of what looked like an average suburban neighborhood, Nikolay was somehow managing to keep himself in the present mentally, but his growing tension and shaking had not been lost on Mina and several of his other present classmates. With the extensive damage they were going into, it wasn't hard for them all to imagine just what this had to be reminding their Russian friend of, and not just of the Kamino Incident like it did for many others.

It only became so much more obvious when, after rounding their first corner into the neighborhood section, the team came to a grinding halt, and Nikolay visibly jolted like he'd been struck by the most hateful bolt of lightning at the sight that awaited them.

"Looks like we've already encountered a child," Izuku noted, as before their group knelt a single hysterically bawling child in a helmet who looked visibly bloodied while kneeling amid the rubble. The moment the child spotted the group of young Heroes before him, he only began to cry even harder, pointing towards the wreckage behind him."WAAAAAAH! H-HELP MEEE! WAAAH! OVER THERE… G-GRANDPA! HE-HE GOT CRUSHED!"

As Izuku was already rushing into the scene to try and help, Nikolay once again jolted like he'd been electrocuted, and this time he couldn't keep himself in it, as listening to the child's specific pleas for help while looking at the rubble was already starting to fill his nostrils with that stench of ashes and blood, and his eyes stinging with the same burning sensation of smoke, even under his goggles.

He was suddenly shaken from his cursed traumatic remembrance by Momo placing a firm hand on his shoulder, forcing the boy to look her in her clearly concerned eyes. Taking in their surroundings again, Nikolay was quick to notice that Tenya, Mina and Minoru were already well in the process of splitting up to check the surrounding area for other civilians in need of help, while Izuku and Ochako were currently trying to attend to the child; although the pounding of his panicked heartbeat against his eardrums was preventing him from hearing what any of them were saying, as he could see Izuku had a surprisingly shocked look on his face while the child was rambling at him a mile a minute.

"Bezpalov-san, we don't know the conditions the other civilians out here may be in, so a longer journey towards a medical station may be too much for them. See if you can use your Quirk to clear the area near the entrance to lay down a medical aid station with some of the other examinees. I can provide the supplies we'll need for when we start returning with them."

Looking back over his vice president's shoulder, Nikolay could see that, indeed, there were a handful of other examinees already well at work at clearing rubble from the area, with the hairy Shiketsu boy from before actually using his hair to sweep the debris away. Just as his attention returned to Momo, he was instantly met with her placing four first aid-kits in his arms, as well as a canopy bag she quickly slung over his neck to hang on his back.

His initial response, which was reflected on his face, was the painful realization that he was being sidelined, but when he saw the gentle smile of confidence on Momo's face, such suspicions were instantly cleared away. She wasn't making him a benchwarmer. She was simply recognizing where his Quirk and the speed it gave him would be most useful as of right now. "I know you can do this, Bezpalov-san."

Not wanting to let her or any of the others down, Nikolay held both first-aid kits like his life depended on them, and quickly launched himself by his feet back to the entrance of the suburban section, quickly joining the other surrounding examinees on rescue station construction duty in clearing away all the obstructing pieces of debris that could have served as potential roadblocks for any other examinees coming back from the surrounding areas with civilians.

As he either blasted the smaller pieces away, or used his larger tuning forks to break down the bigger ones to make them easier for himself and others to dispose of, Nikolay couldn't help but observe and admire the sheer level of detail his fellow examinees were clearly putting into how to approach this whole overall situation. 'Of course, it all makes sense. The hairy kid is clearing space for air extraction. They even said the damage to the roads was extensive, so of course a rescue team would come in by the air. And what better way to reach civilians trapped in harder to reach places than by using a Quirk that can essentially make an impromptu bridge or a road in itself? Come on, Nikolay Olegovich, you need to be more on your game like these guys are!'

This was all Nikolay could think to himself once he was sure they had cleared a big enough area for him to open up the canopy bag on his back, hurriedly setting up a massive tent cover to provide shade for the civilians once the examinees would start returning with them. Not only that, but this hefty bag had even come with a number of collapsible lightweight canvas cots and tables, which he was miraculously still just as quick to set up, planting his four first-aid kits at each corner so that the first examinees to come back from each direction would already have the medical supplies they would need at the ready. Nikolay was simply in too much of an adrenaline rush to notice the few scattered looks of approval on the other examinees' faces at just how thoroughly prepared their mutual idea for a relief station was already proving to be.

As soon as Nikolay knew he'd set up everything he'd been given by Momo to the best of his ability, his eyes were already scanning their surroundings for some sign of returning examinees and civilians. He couldn't even allow himself to start trying to catch his breath. He knew in his gut there was still so much more to be done. It was one of the first things his father had ever told him when discussing civilian rescue: "Heroes can't allow themselves to get tired until they know for a fact everyone has been fully rescued from danger."

As that word of advice rang loud and clear in his head, the surrounding ambient noise and the voices of the other nearby examinees lulled just enough to where his right ear was able to just barely make out the sound of partially muffled human voices. Turning his head on a swivel in the direction the sound was coming from, Nikolay launched himself across the ground to a nearby pile of rubble on the edge of a street. As he came to a stop, he could now hear the sound clear as day: there was what sounded like multiple people, children and elderly alike, trapped underneath this rubble.

"HELP! PLEASE HELP US! WE'RE TRAPPED DOWN HERE AND THE WATER'S RISING! HELP!"

Nikolay hurriedly began trying to pry away the smaller pieces of rubble he could reach that he could already tell wouldn't risk unsettling the rubble and having it come collapsing down onto the folks trapped below. Once he had made an opening, Nikolay quickly looked inside, and he could finally see even just a few of the faces of the people trapped below; momentarily relieved to find a steel sewer grate between them and the rubble. "Don't worry, everyone! I'll get you all out of there!"

The words just came to him out of pure instinct as he could hear the sheer panic in their voices. Not wasting a second, he hurriedly pulled one of his larger tuning forks from his side and wedged it between two larger chunks of rubble. Slamming a moderately charged palm into it, he was able to create a resulting shockwave that blew the other pieces free and well away from him or the civilians. However, he could still tell it was going to take more than that before he could be able to reach these people.

"BEZPALOV-SAN!" Tenya's echoing outcry came well before the armored class president himself. By the time Nikolay instinctively looked to where it was coming from, he was already met by his classmate coming to a screeching halt after bolting straight from the rescue station.

"Iida-san, is everything alright?" Nikolay immediately asked as he began wedging his tuning forks into more of the rubble.

"So far things are going smoothly! Ashido-san, Mineta-san and I have managed to save a few civilians each from further in the urban section! She's already using her salve to treat their wounds while the other examinees are using the first-aid kits! What's the situation here? Perhaps I can assist!"

Already following his Russian friend's lead, Tenya began planting his back and hands to the wall while using his Quirk to drive his kicks in loosening more of the rubble. All the while, Nikolay was still hard at work, even as he answered his sudden partner: "These civilians are trapped under this grate and they said there's water rising as well! We need to hurry!"

He and Tenya worked like there was no tomorrow, and within less than a minute, they had finally managed to fully uncover the grate, revealing only a single lock was keeping it shut. As Tenya was already busting the lock with a single strengthened stomp, Nikolay suddenly found his body beginning to tremble with quickly growing intensity the more he looked at the panic on all these old people and children's faces.

"Bezpalov-san, my costume unfortunately makes me too heavy to risk going into the water to get the civilians out! Tell me what you need to assist and I'll get it done!" Tenya immediately ordered/suggested, but when he was given no immediate answer, he looked back, only to be hit by the sight of Nikolay shaking uncontrollably, his green eyes once again reflecting that long-traumatized fear the longer he looked down into that hole.

Already, the Russian boy was being hit by those agonizing memories, being trapped and buried. Even though his common sense was telling him it wasn't him down there and he could actually do something, his heart and the rest of him was too far gone in a momentary state of pure panic to actually accept that. He was even starting to take a step back in instinctive resistance to going into that underground deathtrap.

"BEZPALOV-SAN!" Tenya's voice was suddenly echoing point blank in Nikolay's ears, as he soon found himself getting shaken by his shoulders by his class president. Even with his helmet and mask on, he could just instinctively feel those intense eyes burning right into him as Tenya refused to release his hold. "Bezpalov-san, please get a hold of yourself! This is hardly the time and place for you to let your memories come back for you! Remember what you and Uraraka-san did the first time this happened, repeat it to yourself verbatim a hundred times over if you have to, but we need you to be in this moment right now, do you understand?! Those people down there are counting on us, on you right now! This is your chance to be the Hero that can save them from suffering the same way you did!"

As every word drove into Nikolay's skull like a hammer claw, he could thankfully feel those ambient cries and other sensations from before start to fade, just in time for him to now start hearing the voices of the people still stuck down below… except this time, they weren't crying out for help, and were instead speaking with complete and total disappointment:

"What the hell kind of presentation for a Hero is that foreign boy giving? Doesn't he know how terrible that is, to give civilians false hope by saying he'll save them, only to fall apart before he can even do that? That's a serious point docking if I've ever seen one. I know, right? This is supposed to be an essential ticking time bomb situation, too. Thanks to him wasting time by panicking, we'd already have long since drowned. Yeah, and his partner wasting time with some impromptu sense-knocking certainly doesn't help, nor does the shouting."

As the civilians kept naming off one flaw after another, Nikolay and Tenya both visibly flinched with a shocking revelation as they looked in each other's eyes, clearly realizing the same thing: "THE HUC PEOPLE ARE THE ONES GRADING US?!"

That one realization in and of itself was enough to finally get the fire reignited under Nikolay and Tenya's tails, as the Russian boy hurried back to the now-open sewer grate; the visible change in his demeanor seeming to be enough to finally quiet down the judgmental civilians in the water below. 'Goddammit, I can't believe I've screwed up so immensely already! How could I forget what Dad and All Might have been saying all this time?! Heroes aren't supposed to just rescue people; they're supposed to be symbols of hope when there aren't any others! Iida-san is right; they're counting on me just as much as they're counting on all of us! It's just like Kyouka-san told me; I may not be the whole, but I'm just as important a piece of it as everyone else; and I need to start acting like it! Think about how Dad and All Might always acted when faced with danger! Think!'

"Don't worry, everyone, everything is going to be all right now, I promise! We're going to get you all out!" As the words, or some mixture of them, that he had heard so often from All Might and his father through his old stories came naturally to him from memory, Nikolay could feel like he was becoming that much more all-around powerful by the second. There was no other way he could describe it in that moment, than as though he were being consumed by the very physical essence of what it meant to be an actual Hero.

Unfortunately, not all of the elderly folk down in the water seemed that impressed with his declaration, as one was quick to point out: "Assurances are all well and good, but you need to think about not only the physical conditions of civilians, but their mental and emotional states as well! You're dealing with a group that's consumed in panic because they're facing death approaching by the second! No matter what words you choose, shouting them could very well make their panic worse!"

Not only was the realization of such a logical point very hard-hitting for Nikolay and Tenya both (the class president now realizing how off-putting his natural tendency to shout could easily be for already-frightened civilians), but so too was the most basic realization that Nikolay needed to assess the conditions of the civilians in question as soon as he'd arrived so he could be able to plan their rescue accordingly in the shortest amount of time possible.

Thankfully, by this point Tenya had likewise come kneeling at the young Slav's side so he could provide a second set of eyes and assess the situation twice as fast for both of them. "Nobody appears to be especially physically injured, but there are a few who appear to be unconscious, and it's still too much of a distance for us to simply reach in and pull them out."

As soon as Tenya gave this brief rundown, he noticed Nikolay visibly twitch; his eyes wide with the beginnings of an idea, as he began hurriedly scanning their surroundings. Soon, Nikolay and Tenya's eyes both landed upon a nearby pile of especially large rubble. Immediately from there, Nikolay's eyes fell to the pouches of his belt, while Tenya's eyes fell to the tuning forks at his sides.

The two boys' eyes once again met, clearly recognizing each other's ideas as they spoke: "Iida-san, I'll tie my capture cord to the forks and lower one inside for the civilians to cling onto. If you can get the other behind that rubble and act as an anchor for it, we can start reeling the civilians back onto the surface, and we can take them to the relief station!"

"My thoughts exactly, Bezpalov-san! We need to recover the unconscious civilians first!" Nikolay had the first tuning fork tied securely with one spool of his cord in record time and had it handed off to Tenya, who instantly dashed to get it secured behind the pile of rubble. At the same time, Nikolay had another spool tied to the end of the other, and tied the rest of it to the other tuning fork, hurriedly returning to the edge of the sewer grate as soon as he knew their impromptu rescue mechanism was ready.

"Everyone, we're going to get you out, but we need you to help us along the way. There are two loops I tied to this fork to aid in your grip while we pull you out. Please, get the hands of the unconscious civilians among you through so we can lift them up." Keeping in mind what he'd been potentially discredited for mere seconds ago, Nikolay was somehow remembering to not yell this time, which thankfully seemed to be resonating well with the civilians, as much of their initial panic seemed to die down, and they were quick to get the first of their few unconscious members over and fitting their hands through the two loops; their weight thankfully managing to secure the cords for them.

"Alright; pull with me, Iida-san!" Nikolay's order from over his shoulder was loud and clear the moment he could see the first civilian was secured in place. Not wasting a moment, he and Tenya managed to synchronize their pulls with each other, and within seconds, the first of the unconscious civilians was out of the hole and back on solid ground.

While Nikolay hurriedly untied their hands, Tenya hurried over and place his head to their chest, before just as quickly placing two fingers to the side of their neck. "They still have a strong pulse and are breathing. I'd say it was primarily unconsciousness by way of shock."

"All right, hurry and get them to the first-aid station. We still have a few more unconscious civilians to attend to first." Tenya gave a single nod of understanding and was almost instantly gone with the first unconscious civilian, taking the straight route back, before returning to his position just behind the rubble in a matter of seconds. At that same moment, the civilians had already managed to get their second unconscious member secured just as they had before.

This pattern of securing an unconscious civilian, Nikolay and Tenya pulling them up, releasing their binds and Tenya checking their vitals and returning them to the first-aid station carried on for a good minute. By then, they had finally managed to get the last of the unconscious civilians out onto dry land. Much like the others, to both boys' relief, this last one likewise seemed to have no weakness of pulse or breath.

"Alright, get them to the first-aid station and we can get to work rescuing the rest, Iida-san." With that, Tenya once again took off, and Nikolay was once more in the process of lowering his tuning fork for the rest of the conscious civilians below to secure themselves to.

"Oh my god, the water feels like it's already rising! I can't stay down here, I gotta get out! Let me out! Help me, please!" The moment Nikolay had started to lower his tool inside; he could start to hear several of the bigger elderly citizens start to echo similar words of growing panic. Within seconds, the once relatively calm gathering below was starting to erupt into screams and frantic cries and thrashing in record time.

Before Nikolay even realized what was really happening, he could feel the once slack cord attached to his tuning fork start to go taut with the weight of multiple people grabbing and pulling at it; leaving the Russian boy to hang on for dear life and dig his heels into the ground to try and secure his stance at the edge. "Everyone, please don't panic! We're going to get you all ou—WHOAA!"

Before the end of the last syllable could escape his lips, an especially fierce collective tug on the other side below pulled with enough force to bring Nikolay tumbling face first over the edge and down into the frigid and thrashing water below with the rest of the panicking civilians.

For a few precious moments, Nikolay couldn't even figure out which way was up, left, right or what have you. The water was thrashing about so intensely, and there were so many people moving about in it at once, he felt as though he were being tossed around in the rush like a single sock in a tumble dryer.

Somehow, someway, he was eventually able to find his way back to the surface, and as he struggled to try and regain his breath, his ears were pummeled by the echoing wall of panicked cries of the countless elderly and children crowding around his still dangling tuning fork/harness.

The moment he was able to figure out just what exactly was at risk of happening, as it looked like the civilians were starting to try and climb over each other to get out, his own sense of desperation paired with his remaining sense of Heroic duty drove him to try and swim forward so he could try and part the thrashing crowd.

"Everyone, please listen to me, this is not a time to panic! I'm going to get you all out of here! If the children are strong enough to hang on, I can bring a few of them back up with me, and I can get back to-!"

However, this last-second idea of his died almost instantly once he looked up and realized the hole leading out was far too small for more than one person to fit through at once, even a small child. Even if that weren't the case, with the crowd refusing to part, he wasn't in a good spot to get anyone else out with him without risking driving their heads into the ceiling.

The fact that he, the Hero who was supposed to be helping them, wasn't naming any ideas or trying to calm anyone down, only seemed to fire up the crowd of civilians even more. "It's every man for himself! I gotta get out of here! Get out of my way!"

The moment Nikolay could hear one of the older folks declare this sentiment; he suddenly felt a pair of bony hands clutch tight onto his head, only to force him down below the surface with surprising strength, before he could even get a chance to hold his breath.

As the weight of multiple people trying to climb their way over his body in order to stay above water showed no sign of ceasing, Nikolay had to fight the urge to start blasting from his hands and feet to try and get himself some room to maneuver. The last thing he wanted to do was risk slamming one of these people into the walls and risk legitimately hurting them, if not worse.

Crawling his way along the floor until he no longer felt feet driving into his head and back, Nikolay finally forced his way back to the surface, once again gasping for air as he wasted no time trying to reach the crowd trying to climb their way up his tool and cord all at once.

Reaching the crowd, Nikolay did the only thing left he could think of that made any sense, and began trying to get his hands in between the thrashing mad civilians. "Everyone, please listen to me!"

WRAAAM!

The instant his voice even began to register to anyone, Nikolay was suddenly blindsided by one of the burlier elderly citizens thrashing about so violently that he drove his elbow straight into the young Russian's face, leaving his head ringing with shock. Just as quickly as his vision began to come back, did Nikolay end up getting an even harder clenched fist of blind panic driving straight into his nose, knocking every ounce of fight right out of him, and leaving him floating listlessly in the water as the citizens continued to fight each other in order to get out.

Nikolay could only hear a high pitched ringing in his ears and see flashing spots of light in his field of vision. He could even begin to taste that sickening copper flavor of his own blood start running into his mouth. With that strength that he'd been hit with, he honestly wouldn't have been surprised if his nose had gotten broken, at least once he'd come back to his senses.

Once he could actually hear himself think again, and his vision finished clearing up, Nikolay was already beginning to tense back up, getting ready to try and force himself into the fray once more, before he suddenly felt a hand grab his shoulder. After what had just happened, he was already tensing up in preparation for another blow to his head, but instead he was only met with the sight of a shorter old man looking at him observantly. "If this is your idea of reassuring panicked civilians, you're doing a pretty piss poor job of it, sonny. Don't you have any idea of just how much responsibility lands on your shoulders when you work as a Pro Hero in a rescuing situation?"

He could clearly tell Nikolay was getting ready to counter, and thus he tightened his clenching hold on his shoulder, managing to shut the young foreigner up as he continued: "Being a Hero isn't just about going into dangerous areas and getting people out! Hell, it's not even just about being there to give people hope so they can actually work together to get to safety. In the absence of the proper authorities to maintain order, it falls to Heroes to fill that void! You're the rescuer, the protector and the peacekeeper all in one, boy! That means that in situations of blind panic like this, where citizens are climbing over each other and unable to listen to reason because they're scared, you need to apply a firm enough hand in order to diffuse the source of that panic and try and regain control of the situation. If you ever lose control of the situation, you leave civilians in even greater danger than before."

As every word wormed its way into the depths of his brain, Nikolay found himself looking back to the human throng, and finally could see everything happening before him for what it was. 'Of course. That's what I've been doing wrong this whole time. I've been spending all this time trying to embody what I thought a Hero was, based on how Dad, All Might and even my own classmates have tended to carry themselves. I can't find a way through every situation if I keep trying to think of how they would solve a situation like this. We're trying to become our own Heroes at the end of all this… and I can't become that if I don't start listening to my own instincts and what they're telling me I should do.'

As he kept working his way through this mental epiphany, Nikolay's discerning eyes began to pick out the small number of individuals among the panicking civilians that he had seen and heard trigger the initial panic from the start. "Diffuse the source of the panic. Regain control of the situation… then I can finally save them."

With this simple three-step plan carved into the fiber of his being as it existed in this moment, Nikolay wordlessly worked his way forward, ignoring the lingering pain of his busted nose every step of the way, until he began working his way back into the crowd of elderly folk and children, never taking his eyes off the ones most violently panicked among them.

As he got closer and closer, another of his father's long-distant lessons picked the perfect moment to come back to his racing mind: "Something to always remember when working as a Hero in the field, Kolya, is that you never want to hurt someone more than you intend to, even if it's a Villain. Heroes are supposed to be the upholders of justice; not judge, jury and executioner. If a situation simply calls for you to neutralize someone so they're no longer an active hindrance towards stopping a crime or saving people, then that's all you need do."

The especially exhausting lesson that had come with that advice was already burning its way through Nikolay's muscles as he thought back on it; just in time for him to reach the back of the first of the original instigators of this mass panic.

It was like Nikolay was working on autopilot in that moment as his father's words continued to echo, as his eyes focused on the corner of this particular old man's neck and shoulder. With muscle memory completely taking over, Nikolay proceeded to drive two of his fingers against that one point with surprising speed and precision, giving it the exact same kind of pinch that his father had shown him all that time ago.

The moment contact had been made and Nikolay just as quickly retracted his hand; every last ounce of fight this old man previously had was now gone, as his body peacefully fell against Nikolay's chest, spurring the young Slav to hold him securely and keep his head above the water.

Already he could hear just a view of the panicking voices nearest him die down, with many of those elderly and children looking at Nikolay in surprise and confusion alike. Looking to a couple of the other men, Nikolay hurriedly handed his now unconscious cargo to them. "Please, keep him afloat. This is how I can save you all."

Not risking sticking around long enough for any of them to once more criticize whatever they believed he was doing wrong, Nikolay focused his sight on the next of the more rowdy civilians among the bunch. Just as he did before, once he was close enough, he did the exact same maneuver Tunguska had taught him to pacify this particular old man, once again catching him in his fall and handing him off to one of the more pacified civilians nearest him.

Once he had followed through with this same pattern on the third and last remaining civilian that was the most unruly, Nikolay finished handing him off to another group, before just as quickly motioning for the groups carrying the other two to come to his position. As they did what they were told, Nikolay began rummaging for another spool of capture cord from his belt. "I'm going to tie them together so they don't risk drowning. Once I do, I'm going to start getting you all out of here."

Once he'd finished binding the three men together, Nikolay could feel the silently judging (and scoring) eyes of the civilians around him, as he began carrying the three unconscious civilians along with him back to his dangling tuning fork harness. Turning back to meet their gazes, Nikolay could feel that conviction he'd been acting with for the last several minutes naturally bring the words to his mouth: "I'm sorry I had to subject you all to this, but if I let this panic continue, there was no telling how many of you could risk getting hurt, if not worse. I mean it when I say I'm going to get all of you out of here and back to safety, and with things the way they are right now, this was the only way I could ensure that. Now, I'm going to secure these three to the harness and get back to the surface. Once I get them out and my partner gets them to the station, I'm going to get every last one of you out, and that's my promise to you."

While he normally would have been trying to observe the crowd gathered around him to see if he was leaving a good impression, or if they at least understood enough of what he was telling them; right now Nikolay knew he didn't have that luxury. This was his time to finally follow through on his promise as a Hero, not just to these people, but to himself; the same promise he'd silently made to himself and his parents and friends all those months ago. This was the time for him to finally make good on that promise.

Without another word, Nikolay began to turn back to his harness, already halfway towards getting the cord these three men were wrapped in tied to the harness so he and Tenya up above could get them out and finally finish things up in this spot.

However, just as he did, he suddenly felt the collected weight of the three men completely vanish, just before he felt the hand he was holding them with was being pulled up into the sky.

Looking up, Nikolay was met with the sight of the suddenly arrived and determined-looking Ochako floating just over the sewer grate, reaching down and meeting his face with the five fingers on her left hand. Just like that, he was now floating like a feather over a hot air current with the three tied-together men still in his grip, as he slowly but surely made his way back up to the surface, carefully wrangling the three bound-together men so they could actually get out the grate with him. Once she was sure he was in a position where he would land back on solid ground, but while still making sure neither he nor his three unconscious civilians were high enough that they would be hurt once she turned off her Quirk, Ochako brought her hands back together, bringing her classmate and the once troublesome trio back to solid earth.

"Are you all right, Kolya-san?" As Ochako instinctively asked with that same sense of worry; Nikolay seemed to finally be taking in the fact she had just gotten him out of the worst situation he could have been in for this exam. He was just as quick to notice that Ochako hadn't come alone, either, as Minoru was also here, reaching down into the hole with several of his hairballs skewered together on a long stick for the civilians below to grab onto, so he and Rikido Sato could lift them back up together.

"Apologies for the delayed return, Bezpalov-san! When I realized what had happened, I knew we would require more help than I could provide myself!" As Tenya called out to his newly returned partner, Nikolay couldn't help but smile with relief, not only for his quick thinking, but also for the fact he was once more at the ready for them to finally carry on with their rescue operations as before.

"Thank you, everyone! Now, let's get these people out of there and get them looked after!" With his heart lifted up into his throat at just how quickly even this many of his classmates had come to help him, Nikolay once more took his position again, holding the cord at the edge of the hole tight, and with even better synchronization between them, alongside the assistance of Ochako, Minoru and Rikido, they proceeded to finally start getting the rest of the once trapped civilians out the hole and back onto solid ground one by one, until they had finally gotten the last old woman out, and could all finally let out a collective sigh of relief that they had gotten the last of the civilians in this spot out.

Nikolay refused to let his pain or physical exhaustion show, as he quickly got his tuning forks slipped back into their sheaths at his sides and brought his attention back to the civilians remaining after their last round of retrieval; having left first-aid station delivery-duty to Tenya and Ochako as their currently most mobile. "Are any of you folks still okay to walk? If not, we can all carry you to the relief station. We have medical aid and beds waiting for you all."

"Actually, I'm typically wheelchair-bound; I was only keeping myself afloat with my arms before." As Nikolay recognized the voice of the old man who had helped him realize he needed to play the pacifying role just minutes before, a handful more of the senior citizens began to voice similar concerns. Thankfully none of the children did the same, and as such, Nikolay was quick to act, squatting down and allowing the first old man to climb onto his back, while Tenya, Rikido and Ochako were quick to do the same, helping the less able elderly onto their backs, or holding their hands while keeping them weightless respectively, while Minoru was linking the kids together by the hands with his hairballs in order to keep any of them from straying from the rest of the group.

As soon as he could tell they had everyone accounted for and assisted, Nikolay and his friends focused on the relief station just ahead. "It's all right, everyone… you're all safe now."

Not a single of the civilians said a word, fortunately, which was as good a sign as any for the young Heroes to finally start moving, not too fast, for the sake of those still hanging onto them. Every one of them was absolutely focused on the end goal ahead, but that still didn't stop Tenya from momentarily looking to Nikolay beside him in approval of how he had managed to maintain the civilians' calm and regain control, even if they all needed to help in order to make it happen.

However, the moment he gave the Russian boy a glance, Tenya nearly missed a step when he saw the residual red running down the lower part of his fair face. "My goodness, Bezpalov-san, do you even know you're—"

"Yes, I know, but that's not important right now. We need to focus on getting everyone to the first-aid station first."

As Minoru and Rikido now likewise noticed the fact that Nikolay's nose was bleeding, their own curiosity was starting to match Tenya's, as well as that of the Russian boy himself. Was he shrugging off the fact he was bleeding, and his face was still in throbbing pain, for the sake of the civilians' peace of mind, or was he doing it simply to avoid being ganged upon by everyone else's concerns? Right now, he didn't have any more of an answer than anyone else did. All he knew was that he wanted to get these people to safety so he could know he had done at least that much right.

However, even that determination wasn't going to stop him from giving his friends their proper dues, as he turned his eyes to Tenya and Ochako at his sides. "Thank you all for the help, though. This would've been a lot harder without it. Especially yours, Uraraka-san."

As he turned his attention to Ochako floating beside him with two elderly folks in her hands, Nikolay was momentarily taken aback by the especially serious look on her rosy-cheeked face, as she never took her eyes off the relief station mere feet away. This wasn't like the scary expression she'd worn in the days approaching the Sports Festival. This was something much deeper, and yet much less desperate, more at peace in a strange way. "Are you feeling alright, Uraraka-san? You look… different all of a sudden."

As he thought back on it, she had seemed to look especially troubled by something in the time between the first exam and this one. Before he could bring it up, however: "I'm alright, Kolya-san. In fact, in a way, I actually feel much better now. I just came to a realization about what I should do from now on if I want to become the Hero I want to be… something I'd been looking for, for quite a while now… and I have Deku-kun to thank for finally making me realize it."

None of the other students around her dared to ask, figuring this was something far too personal for them to pry into, and they would have been right. Even if Ochako was giving off an air of greater focus, in her head and heart, she was still in the process of making peace with the decision she'd made. In the short amount of time between their group's encounter with that very first crying child and now, Ochako had seen front and center just how focused and driven Izuku was proving, as he had taken his initial failures in consoling an injured civilian, and turned it right around in order to save them and take that one step closer towards becoming a Hero.

The way he had been able to so swiftly regain control and push himself forward was nothing short of inspiring for Ochako, and even as all the accusations and assumptions of her feelings for him (whether they were real or not) kept echoing around in her head, she'd still been able to find the wherewithal to finally make one of the hardest decisions she'd made in a very long time. She didn't want to be someone who simply stood in the shadow of someone like Izuku, admiring him from afar. No, she still wanted to be a Hero like everyone else, but she also wanted to be the kind of Hero that he and her friends could admire just as much as she admired all of them. She wanted to be their equal more than anything else. And if accomplishing that meant shutting aside whatever feelings she had for Izuku for the time being, then she was prepared to do exactly that, and simply focus on pushing herself as far as possible towards achieving her objective, just like everyone else.

By now, the group had finally made it to the relief station, where multitudes of the stationary examinees were all attending to the wounds and needs of the countless civilians that were already in the process of being brought back one by one or group by group by the others. As Nikolay and his group finally let their own civilians down onto the first available cots they could find, Nikolay felt the old man he deposited grab onto his sleeve hard, forcing him to look into his eyes.

Despite the intensity of his aged gaze, the tone with which he spoke couldn't have been softer and more genuine: "Thank you, young man. You started out sloppy… but you learned from it. Let that be your biggest take away from this, and use it to do better from here on, understand?"

Nikolay did the one thing that he thought made any sense, and gently placed a hand over the one on his sleeve, never breaking eye contact as he gave the old man a single understanding nod. "I will… thank you."

"Kolya-kun?" As soon as they let go and he began to step away, Nikolay could hear Mina's voice calling out to him. As he turned to face her, he wasn't surprised to find she had just finished using her salve to finish closing up another little girl's small head wound, on top of the numerous scrapes on her arms. However, the moment they made eye contact, he could see the pink girl's mood darken through her eyes when she saw the state of his face. Before he could even say anything, she was already making a beeline right for him, grabbing a small cotton swab from one of the nearby first-aid kits along the way.

"Oh, for crying out loud, Iida-san wasn't kidding. Kolya-kun, you can't just let something like that go unattended, what if it's broken? How did this even happen?" To Nikolay's relief, Mina's tone was far from scolding, but she clearly wasn't coddling him, either. That wouldn't have been any better for both of them if she had been.

As she proceeded to tear the cotton swab in half and roll them both into longer shapes to stick up his nostrils to absorb the blood, Nikolay answered as optimistically as he could: "Nothing too bad. I just got given a wake-up call for what we might one day have to do if we ever find ourselves dealing with a panicking crowd again, that's all. It's probably already stopping itself, so please don't worry."

However, that didn't stop Mina from tending to his wound as best she could, as once she'd finished plugging Nikolay's nostrils and swabbing away the blood on his face, she just as quickly ran a salve-coated finger along the small laceration on the bridge of his nose. "Even if it is, you shouldn't just leave your face looking like that, Kolya-kun. The people still out there could be scared out of their minds for all we know. Do you have any idea what seeing a Hero covered in their own blood might do to them?"

As blunt as such a statement was; it did noticeably leave Nikolay in thought. Yet again, another aesthetic detail he hadn't even bothered to consider. If people in situations like this were already terrified for their lives, the sight of someone who was supposed to be their protector and symbol of hope all bloodied up could make things exponentially worse. The only reason the civilians he and his group had rescued hadn't flipped out at the sight of him in such a state was because they'd seen it happen; had even been part of the reason for it. Now he no longer had that excuse, and needed to consider how to present himself to everyone he'd try to save from this point forward.

Fortunately, Mina could see he was taking her advice into consideration, as her worried gaze soon began to warm up again once she was all finished treating his face, even the small bruise starting to form just under his left eye from the elbow he'd taken right before getting his nose busted. "Thank you for that, Mina. I never would've even thought of that."

"Aww, it's no big deal, Kolya-kun. We've seen Heroes like All Might and Tunguska fight and get roughed up so much by now, I'm honestly more surprised I even thought about that at all, never mind you not. Now c'mon, the rest of our class has been saving more and more people, and the other examinees are really on top of taking care of the wounded. We should see about which other sections we can go to and see if there's anyone still there we can help."

Nikolay, even for his plugged and salved-up nose, gave an almost childlike nod of enthusiastic agreement, as he and a once more-smiling Mina began to make their way for the other end of the relief station, where some of the examinees had drawn up an extensive map of the whole stadium grounds.

---

All this time, Yokumiru Mera had been silently observing every single one of the goings on within the exam grounds; specifically how numerous examinees were actually forming surprisingly efficient groups and utilizing their Quirks in near perfect synchronization with each other in order to make the rescue operations go as smoothly as possible. Had this not been an out-and-out exam, he would've almost been able to confuse this for watching a whole batch of new Pro Heroes at work. It was certainly something their teachers could be proud of, despite the sloppy beginnings of a good number of them.

"Now, then. It goes without saying that the ordinary methods aren't going to be enough here anymore." As he noted this to himself, he hit a single button, putting himself through to a second party he had set up elsewhere on the stadium grounds without any of the examinees' knowledge. "All right. You're all clear to head out. None of them suspect a thing."

---

It had only been a handful of minutes since Nikolay and his group had returned from rescuing the civilians in the sewer grate, and he had gone off with Mina to look for more civilians to rescue, but in that handful of minutes, not only they, but the entirety of Class 1-A had come to a number of different realizations:

Through all working together to rescue the previously trapped grandfather of the little boy at the beginning; Momo, Ochako, Rikido and Hanta had finally come to understand not only how important teamwork was in rescue situations like this, but more importantly, the importance of environmental and self-awareness. Heroes who saddled themselves with thinking they had to handle every detail of a rescue would ultimately cut their efficiency in half at minimum. The best way for Heroes to be able to rescue scores of people was to not only plan accordingly around each other's specific Quirks and their uses in such situations, but most importantly to realize their own limitations and accept their portions of responsibility in the accomplishment of an overall larger plan. Teamwork and humility were clearly to be two of the most vital lessons to be learned and shared among the young examinees before this day was through.

Secondly, once it had become apparent that, compared to many others, Tenya and Minoru were left at a loss as to what they could ultimately do, it was decided that Class 1-A should officially split into groups to cover other sections of the stadium; and also that, unlike the first exam, this time it was imperative they start working and communicating with the examinees from other schools in order to better understand the overall situation, and figure out ways in which they could help each other.

Fortunately, without Bakugo around, nobody was opposed to this idea, and soon all of Class 1-A was off in their own separate groups, heading in different directions and helping out every trapped and injured civilian they could find, bringing them back to the first-aid station one after the other with surprising speed and efficiency, since none of them seemed to be chewing the examinees out with criticisms…at least as much.

At this point, Nikolay and Mina were finally returning from rescuing the last two civilians in the suburban section: another little girl and her grandmother with a slight head injury. As soon as they had gotten them to the relief station and onto a cot together, Mina was already hard at work sealing the latter's wounds, while Nikolay hurriedly took in their surroundings and handed a nearby water bottle to the two. From the looks of it, a lot of the civilians that had been rescued up to this point were being organized by several other examinees.

"Looks like they're getting ready to move the civilians to the official rescue station near the starting point. I'll run by the other examinees in this area and see if there are any civilians left here. If not, I'll see which areas need more help." As Nikolay explained this, his pink partner gave him an understanding nod while she kept focusing on treating the grandmother's injuries as best she could, while still being sure to give her attention to the granddaughter as well, wiping away some of the dirt on her face with her thumb and dabbing a salve-coated fingertip on the one scrape on her forehead. "You don't have to be afraid anymore, sweetie. I'm gonna make you and your grandma all better, and then the other Heroes are gonna get you both to safety, okay?"

Even through the pretend frightened tears, the little girl gave Mina an accepting nod while the grandmother smiled in clear approval; a sentiment Nikolay couldn't hide as he hurried to the nearest gathering of other examinees. If this exam was proving anything so far, it was that Mina really was an absolute natural when it came to talking to and reassuring children. Maybe it was her natural kindhearted nature paired with her childlike energetic demeanor helping her relate to them, or it could've been something else entirely. All he knew was that it was an advantage entirely her own.

Getting his head back in the game, he hurried over to a small group of three examinees being led by an especially muscular-looking examinee with huge deer antlers sprouting from his head, whom was just as quick to notice the Russian Yuuei student approaching. "Sorry to interrupt. Do you all know if there are any civilians left in this area? If not, are there any other first-aid stations on the grounds that might need help?"

At the same time as this, Mina was finally finishing applying a last band-aid to the little girl and her grandmother, and after making sure they were both okay to walk and join the rest of the civilians of their section, began guiding them along by the hands. Along the way, her eyes couldn't help but drift over to where she'd seen Nikolay head off, and she was soon watching him seriously converse with the other examinees, exuding an air of pure professionalism if she had ever seen it from him before. In a way, to see him give off such composure was genuinely inspiring after everything she'd seen him go through.

"That's the look of someone with the world's strongest attachment if I've ever seen it before," the old woman suddenly spoke up, spurring Mina out of her own head, unable to hide her look of confusion, while the grandmother was giving her a sly wrinkled smile. Her granddaughter was even giving an identical one without said wrinkles, which just made the resemblance that much more unsettling. "That foreign boy you're working with; you've got a serious kind of attachment to him deep inside, don't you?"

Mina felt her hair nearly stand on end with the realization that she was suddenly being put on the spot in the most personal way possible, and started erratically throwing her arms up to try and somehow deflect their accusations. "What?! No, no, that's not true at all! I-I mean, not to that amount, no! I'm just waiting for him to come back so we can get to helping more people like you, that's all!"

It was impossible for the grandmother/granddaughter pair to not laugh at such an extreme reaction from their once composed and focused pink Hero, before the old woman began waving her hand to brush off her denial. "Oh, come now, dear, you don't have to be like that with us. I was your age once too, you know. I know what it's like to have those kinds of feelings for someone else. Besides, you can say whatever you want, but the eyes are the most telling part of a person's truth, and I recognize the look that was just in your eyes like nothing else. Those were the eyes of someone who's in love, even if they don't consciously know it."

It was taking all of Mina's willpower to not start screaming out in shock, if not total fear that anyone else would end up overhearing what the old woman was saying. Unfortunately, the way her pink complexion was starting to turn pale told the two civilians everything they needed to know, prompting the old woman to start chuckling to herself again. "Honestly, you would think Heroes are forbidden from having personal lives, to see you react so extremely to something so sweet and natural. Please, take my advice, from an experienced old woman to a budding young flower: there's nothing wrong about feeling the way you do for your partner. Everyone deserves to have that kind of happiness, including Heroes. Don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise."

It was still all too obvious that Mina was uncertain of exactly what she was supposed to feel, even if she was taking this old woman's words to heart. And the fact that she still looked so conflicted was exactly what led to the next thing the woman told her: "However, now I want you to take this advice from a professional rescuee to a fledgling rescuer: as a Hero, you need to be able to mentally detach yourself from the personal feelings you have for your partners when in a situation involving rescuing people or fighting Villains. Being able to remain objective and recognizing what you need to act the most immediately on in the heat of the moment can make all the difference between saving everyone, and risking losing a life you could have otherwise been able to save."

Now Mina's confusion had completely shifted to a barely restrained horrified realization; the realization of just how much sense this woman's advice made, even to her. With the knowledge that her words had taken root where they needed to, the old woman looked Mina square in the eye. "Now, acting strictly as professionals, I'm afraid we're both going to have deduct some of your points for allowing yourself to get so thoroughly distracted from the continued well-being of the civilians you're trying to protect on their way to rescue. However, don't take that as a way of saying you shouldn't allow yourself to feel the way you do when not in an emergency situation."

Mina let out a defeated sigh, realizing this was the only way such a lecture could have possibly ended, before she suddenly felt a light tugging on her hand from the little girl, who was once again smiling. "Just keep in mind that personal and professional balance is the most vital thing you can obtain on your way to becoming a Hero. Once you have that, I think you'll find life becomes a lot easier."

With that, the grandma and the little girl went off after the rest of their fellow civilians with never-before-seen swiftness, leaving a dumbfounded Mina in their wake to really finish processing every bit of advice she'd just been imparted upon. Every bit of it made perfect sense on the surface, but she couldn't have begun to figure out how to obtain that elusive balance they were talking about; and that was on top of the fact that once again she was being bombarded with the same romantic accusations she'd kept hitting Ochako with, and she still had no idea how to figure out where she really stood in all of that.

"Hey, Mina, are you still with us?" The approaching sound of Nikolay's voice nearly made Mina jump with surprise before she turned around to find him and, surprisingly, Shoto side by side; the stoic boy watching her display with those same cold eyes. "We're still racing against the other examinees even if we're working together, Ashido, so try to stay sharp."

Remembering already what the old woman had told her, Mina quickly tried to swallow the confused emotional lump in her throat when looking Nikolay in the eyes; rubbing the back of her head with an embarrassed grin while bowing apologetically. "Yeah, sorry about that, you guys. So what's up? You find anything out?"

Without a wasted moment, Nikolay started pointing up to the city ruins ahead to their right. "Yeah. According to the other examinees, the only other relief station we can really help at is in the city section. The others are simply too far away for us to manage our time effectively. The majority of examinees that have been working in there just left with their first batch of civilians for the rescue station at the grounds entrance less than a minute ago, and there's bound to be a lot more that need help now."

Working in tandem with this information the Russian boy was giving them, Shoto began pointing up to the taller levels of the buildings that were somehow still barely standing. "My suggestion would be for us to start working our way down from the top floors of the taller buildings. Depending on the scale of the damage and potential obstruction of stairways, Ashido can use her acid to melt our way down from one floor to the next, and depending how many civilians we can rescue along the way, I can use my ice to make a ramp back to ground level so we can cut the time needed to get them to the first-aid station and essentially repeat the process from building to building."

Looking to their sole female companion, Mina was clearly able to get behind their plan, as she had her fists pumped and a determined smile on her face. "Sounds solid to me! Let's do it!" With a fist in the air and a mutual cheer (minus Shoto of course), the Yuuei trio quickly began making their way forward and upwards for the first of the destroyed skyscrapers, utilizing Shoto's ice ramps, Mina's slides and Nikolay's flying blasts to get there that much faster.

---

All the while, from the moment the exam had started and they had split from the mass throng of examinees, Bakugo, Eijirou and Denki had headed straight for the annihilated mountain section. There so far hadn't been any civilians for them to rescue, but that wasn't stopping the hotheaded boy at the lead from moving like a man on a mission. Whatever that was, neither of his two followers could begin to guess, but that didn't mean they were going to just let him go off on his own devices. If there was any chance they could be able to keep him out of trouble, and perhaps even help him get his license alongside them in the process, then it would be worth it.

At least, they would be able to think that with confidence once they could actually find some civilians to save in the first place. The natural aggressiveness in Bakugo's running was the one thing keeping Denki from spouting off that they were essentially going on a wild goose chase.

Just as the trio reached a section of the trail leading up the mountain they had been following that had been taken out by a landslide from one of the explosive charges, they were just as quickly met with the sounds of two elderly voices calling up to them from just below the edge: "Help us! Please, help us!"

All three boys instinctively looked down over the edge of the road to find two elderly civilians struggling to climb their way up the rocks of the landslide to them, both clutching visibly bleeding arms. "Please, our arms are injured! Please help us! It hurts so much!"

"SHUT THE HELL UP! HELP YOUR OWN DAMN SELVES!"

Bakugo's infuriated shout echoed all across the mountain, leaving Eijirou, Denki and the two civilians with matching looks of horrified disbelief at such a callous response from someone still trying to become a Hero.

"Dude, he just went full Bakugo on them like it was nothing." "Seriously, man?! What is up with you?! They could be seriously injured, you know?" As Denki and Eijirou respectively voiced their shock and disapproval, the two civilians below likewise couldn't help but exchange completely bewildered glances.

"But… our role is to act as slightly-injured low-priority rescuees—"

"No way! That boy just took a split-second look at us, and just decided from there to tell us to move on our own!"

Listening to the chatter below, Denki and Eijirou both felt as though they'd just been given a saving grace, not having their reactions judged alongside Bakugo's, while at the same time feeling genuinely shocked that they weren't speaking about their hotheaded classmate that much more harshly. Taking the opportunity for what it was, the two boys proceeded to climb down to finally help the two civilians, while Bakugo just let out another spiteful grunt at such a display of helplessness on the civilians' parts, and was already leaping his way across the gap in the road to continue wherever he was aiming for.

---

Under their mutual observation and reaction instincts working off of each other; Nikolay, Mina and Shoto were already proving to be making decent progress working their way down each floor of the second building they had decided to investigate for any remaining civilians. The first one had only a handful of people left all the way down in total, but this second one, a considerably smaller building nearly buried under the rubble of its two neighbors, proved to have many more; equal shares elderly and children.

What should have been a much more simple means of rescue proved to be anything but, as it was quickly apparent that if they just started blasting the rubble away or melting certain parts of it down, they were about to run the risk of bringing the entire building down on themselves and the civilians alike. In the end, the only thing they could ultimately do was for Nikolay to try and sling up the biggest pieces of rubble he could move starting from the top, before Shoto would then freeze them in place in order to keep them from falling. Once enough had been removed to avoid the risk of collapse, that was when Mina could finally move in and melt a bigger exit to help the civilians crawl out through, while the two boys could then get to work extracting the civilians in the other portions they could more easily reach.

Keeping in mind everything he'd been taught up to this point by the civilians from before, Nikolay never allowed himself to forget to always keep their emotional and physical conditions at the forefront, always trying his best to avoid yelling or getting himself hurt and scaring the civilians any more than they already were. By comparison, Shoto's typically emotionally distant demeanor didn't seem to do much for calming the peoples' nerves, but it at least didn't seem to rub them the wrong way, either.

It had proven a very time-consuming process, but it was ultimately worth it, as none of the civilians ultimately marked any of their scores down by the time it was over and they had been returned to the first-aid station set up at the edge of the city section.

What this particular station lacked in the shade Nikolay had been able to provide to the last one, it more than made up for in larger numbers of attentive examinees stepping in to see to the treatment of the civilians as they were returned, even despite Mina and Nikolay both trying to go their own respective extra miles to either treat their injuries, or even give them a last second reassurance of their own continued safety before heading out to rescue more. Clearly every little bit of it made all the difference, as neither of them found themselves being scolded for either wasting time or giving the rescuees meaningless platitudes. That in itself was encouragement enough for both of them.

Following Shoto's lead further into the city, they soon came to a stop upon reaching the largest intersection, whereupon they were met by the imposing sight of two adequately sized buildings, with one standing at a precarious tilt and only being propped up by the other. What was more was that the propping building looked to be at most partially on fire.

"First things first: we need to get that fire put out!" Nikolay stated, already boosting himself down the road toward the scene, with Mina and Shoto sliding right alongside him; the latter looking intently at the scope of damage at the taller building's base.

"We'll need to reinforce the bottom to keep the building from collapsing too soon. Ashido, check and see if any civilians are down there. If not, I can hold it together with my ice." At his suggestion or command, Mina practically twirled, she turned on her sliding fluid so fast, expertly leaping from one ramp of the debris to the next, easily circling around the base of the taller building.

At the same time, Nikolay and Shoto both came to a stop just in front of where the side of the supporting building was in flames. Neither of them could make out the sound of anyone inside calling for help, but for all either of them knew, they could have simply been drowned out by the sound of the fire.

"Try to focus your aim to the area in flames itself, Bezpalov. We don't want to risk accidentally catching any potential civilians in the cold front." As Shoto stated this, he was already beginning to drum up a large collective icy mist from his right arm, slowly rotating it in order to build the density up while Nikolay got himself situated behind his right side, kneeling down with a single hand extended and supported, aiming upwards towards the fire.

BWOOM!

As soon as Shoto was sure he'd built up the cold enough, he withdrew his right arm, and at that moment, Nikolay let out a more subdued kinetic burst from the single hole on the palm of his right glove, blowing the concentrated frigid cold right into the fire, extinguishing it within seconds and leaving the side of the building encased in the thinnest coating of ice. Once more, there didn't seem to be the sounds of anyone inside, but it was comforting to at least know they had kept the building supporting their bigger destination from weakening any further or faster than needed.

At that same moment, they could both hear the wet sliding sound of Mina rounding the corner behind them, having finally finished her full encircling of the taller building's base; a clearly relieved look on her face. "Good news: I looked as closely as I could, and nobody's stuck in the wreckage at the bottom. You're good to go, Todoroki-kun."

"All right, good work. Bezpalov, Ashido, you two head up to the top of the building while I secure this level. I'll meet up with you both once I do, and we can start working our way down like before." With agreeing nods all around, Shoto quickly took off on another trail of ice, while Mina quickly climbed up onto Nikolay's back, holding on tight while never taking her gaze off the top of the building far above. Maintaining that professional focus was the only thing keeping her from noticing how fast both hers and Nikolay's hearts were already racing, being in this all-too familiar position once again.

With a resounding burst of pure bass echoing from underneath, Nikolay launched them both straight up into the air as fast as he could, before firing out a second boost at the height of it, allowing them to cover the rest of the height of the building, before finally taking care to let out momentary bursts from his feet to ease their momentum and descent, until their feet were both on a solid surface again.

The moment Mina got back onto her feet; the two were quickly rejoined by Shoto, having skyrocketed on his ice up the entire face of the building. Luckily for both of them, the iceberg he had turned the bottom of the building into was managing to keep the entire building steady, and the roof didn't look to have suffered any structural damage, as not a single step the three examinees took felt like it was in danger of giving under their weight.

Once they started making their way down the emergency stairwell, it was straight back to business, and the speed and efficiency with which the three were managing to get the civilians they came across out of danger was the kind of stuff only a truly on-par team could pull off, as any civilians trying to hang on for dear life in any slanted rooms with busted out windows below were swiftly pulled to safety in the next rooms over, when Mina would use her acid to melt through the walls and pull them through.

The majority of the civilians they were managing to get out were elderly, but there were still the occasional children staying huddled underneath the rubble of caved in ceilings, but Nikolay utilizing his still strung-together tuning forks to support his weight and traverse over to help pull them back to the safety of the stairwells managed to make short work of those particular obstacles, while other times Shoto would make small ramps of ice to block off the busted out windows, as well as to allow the civilians to ultimately slide or crawl their way out of the rooms and into the stairwell with them and all the others.

This pattern continued on for well over a dozen floors. The fact that none of the civilians they had managed to rescue from danger had any seriously debilitating injuries like broken limbs or severe brain trauma felt like the world's biggest stroke of luck, but that still didn't stop Mina from seeing to their injuries with her salve, or simply giving sweet words of nurturing to the children, while Nikolay made use of one of the bandage rolls he had grabbed from one of the first-aid kits to help set any dislocations anyone had.

All the while, they were both still remembering to remain reassuring, patient and kind with the civilians every step of the way, making sure no one was too injured to move and simply letting them know how close they ultimately were to being rescued and that everything would be okay.

In a strange way all its own, even Shoto's continuously observant and stoic demeanor was having a strange calming effect on the civilians, as though it were showing them that if he and his partners weren't visibly afraid, then they had no reason to be, either.

However, after a short while of relatively smooth progress, the whole party was inevitably met by their first major obstacle. Halfway down the height of the building, the stairwell was finally blocked off by a large piling of rubble, and their only door they could traverse through was warped beyond any hope of opening.

"If my count of which floor we're on is correct in comparison to the height of the building, we should be on a close enough level to the next building over. We could be able to transport everyone over to that, and from there, I could make an ice ramp to take us the rest of the way to ground level." As Shoto shared this idea, Mina was already one step ahead, melting a hole through the adjacent wall. Just as he had surmised, once the hole had stopped expanding, they were all met with a still halfway-upright building at just around the same level as they were.

Of course, taking in the fact that this building was still halfway destroyed, Nikolay poked his head out to see just how much farther away they still were from the ground. "I don't know, even if it's still technically standing, that building might get unsettled if any extra weight from any of us ends up on it. It's not worth the risk. Do you think you could be able to just form a long enough ice slide for all of us to take down to the ground from here, Todoroki-san?"

Just as Shoto was about to answer, Mina suddenly lifted an objecting hand, swiftly shushing her two partners as her eyes scanned their surroundings. "Hold on, do you guys hear that?"

Listening close, Nikolay and Shoto were soon likewise able to pick up the muffled sound of another child crying for help, and it was coming from behind the warped door as well. With great urgency, Mina was already in action, coating her hand in acid and melting the mangled doorknob and lock in her grip, allowing her to simply let the door swing open for them.

Looking inside, all three examinees quickly found themselves with a sinking sensation in their stomachs, for before them was one single little boy in by far the most precariously tilted office room of the building yet, sitting helplessly on one of the few intact window panes in the whole building. However, even from the other side of the room, they could all see that the glass was already dangerously cracked underneath him.

"Laying down my ice to try and secure the windows is too risky here. The glass is already weakened so much, I'm sure any kind of interference with it could cause it to break." Nikolay and Mina could both feel a nervous sweat forming on their brows to actually hear Shoto, of all people, admitting he couldn't risk using his Quirk here.

Taking in the setup of the room, Nikolay could feel a similar frustration building within himself. "Securing myself to the stairwell rails and scaling my way towards him would be too time consuming. That glass isn't going to hold for too much longer, whether that boy moves or not."

Mina's eyes were looking about for some means that they could still save the kid; only semi-consciously still managing to keep her anxiety hidden from the rest of the civilians. Upon spying the next door over on this floor of the stairwell, however, her eyes widened with an idea. "Wait, even if ice and your safety harness rig idea don't work, what if I could melt another hole through the joining wall, and we can feed Kolya-kun through it so he can pick the boy off the window and we can reel him back up to safety? From there we could just take the ice slide back down to the ground."

Nikolay and Shoto both looked very contemplative of the risks and chances of it working, but for lack of any better, and more importantly, truly effective ideas, it was ultimately agreed, as Nikolay hurriedly tied one end of his last free spool of capture cord to the railing of the stairwell, and quickly followed Mina through the door to the hall on the other side of this particular wall, keeping the other end of his cord tied around his waist while she proceeded to melt another hole through the wall, giving them a direct route to the terrified kid below.

Holding on tight, Nikolay proceeded to lower himself through step by step, keeping one hand's grip on the cord tight while navigating his way down to the boy below, only finally reaching down once he was only a foot away. "It's going to be all right, we promise. Can you move at all?"

As soon as the kid gave a shaky nod, Nikolay continued to inch closer and closer, keeping his hand extended for the child to take. "Okay, please take my hand and climb on. We're going to get you out of here and to safety; you and your friends and family together, do you understand?"

Thankfully, through his unrelenting tears, the kid once more gave Nikolay the nod he was hoping for, and slowly but surely started to reach for the young Russian's extended hand. He could already see their fingers were about to meet. Once he would grab on, he could have Mina help reel them back up, and then they could finally get out of this place.

GRRRRMMMBL!

All at once, the entire building began to just barely start shaking and groaning from below and all around, putting the three examinees on high alert, and the civilians into an escalated state of fright. All at once did it become clear to Shoto especially what was happening: with the time they had spent gathering all these civilians, the ice he had built up to secure the building was starting to melt, and the delayed unsettling of the building was catching up all at once.

Before Nikolay could begin to think, he heard the ear-splitting sound of another crack forming along glass, and the moment he turned his gaze back to the little boy at his side, he could see the glass was finally about to give out from under him. In that hairline fraction of a second before it could, complete muscular reflex took total control over Nikolay's body, as he released his other hand's grip on the cord tied to his waist, and reached out with everything he had, grabbing the kid and pulling him up and close to his body for protection, just as the glass finally shattered where he had just stood.

However, with another sudden jolt of the entire building leaning only those few inches further forward, the knot of cord tied to Nikolay's waist suddenly gave out, unraveling from around him, and sending Nikolay and the child in his arms plummeting out the busted out window pane before either Mina or Shoto could intervene.

The rushing current of air as he went into freefall prevented Nikolay from hearing Mina and Shoto shouting out his name in mutual shock, but he couldn't allow his momentary state of surprise to linger a moment more, as it finally dawned on him what was happening; and more importantly, what was about to happen, as upon remembering the entire layout of this whole section, he didn't have to guess where he was about to land: the rapidly approaching window faces of the supporting building just across the street.

"HOLD ON TIGHT!" Nikolay ordered the child he was still clinging onto, pulling him in even closer so as to shield him from what was about to happen. With his brain screaming for complete focus like he never had before, Nikolay could feel a swift and insane buildup of all the stored kinetic energy he'd been accumulating over the last several minutes alone build up across the back of his costume, and just as quickly fire out from the very fabric with a deafening BWOOOM!

This produced a kinetic shockwave rippling through the air with such force, that it blasted in nearly all the windows of the building he was on a crash course with, thus allowing Nikolay to free fall right through one of said openings and meet the floor with a hard and violent backwards tumbling roll, leaving his entire body aching once he'd finally come to a stop upon slamming into the wall, but all the while still managing to somehow control his crashing roll to the point where he kept the child from getting hit by anything along the way. If anyone had ever dared to ask how he'd managed to pull it off after the fact, his only answer would have been plain dumb luck.

As Nikolay tried to ride out the incessant ringing in his head from his crash landing, just outside the window, a massive wall of ice had suddenly been erected in a matter of seconds, effectively propping up the leaning taller building that much more securely, although the Russian boy and his child civilian were still in too much of a state of shock to notice that then.

Once he could actually hear himself think again and recollect where exactly he was, Nikolay's attention immediately went back to the child, who was now trembling from head to toe in his arms. "Hey, kid, it's okay, it's over now. Can you hear me? Are you all right? Hey, I need you to look at me, okay? Now, I want you to listen carefully to what I'm about to ask you, all right? Right now, I want you to list five things you can see, any five things at all."

While the kid was trying to will himself to stop shaking, Nikolay was miraculously already on point, looking him over for any signs of open wounds or physical trauma. For all intents and purposes, the kid didn't look to be extensively hurt; only really shaken up from the looks of it.

In the end, though, the kid was thankfully able to start breathing deep and much more calmly, thanks to Nikolay guiding him step by step through the calming process, pulling a page straight out of Ochako's book in the process. "I'm okay… I'm calm now. I'm good. That… that was a good move on your part, using a proven calming method in order to bring someone back from panic. After such a close call, not a lot of people would think to do that; the adrenaline rush would still be going just as strong for them. You should keep that method in mind for future rescue maneuvers.

"That was also commendable of you, using yourself as a shield to keep a civilian from getting hurt in an accidental fall in any way, shape or form. The ability to react in the wake of an unforeseeable incident like that building unsettling shows exceptional reflexes, although that could also just be a perk of your specific Quirk. Either way, Heroes are supposed to be able to protect civilians from harm, so take comfort in knowing you actually managed to do so."

Just as Nikolay let out an immensely relieved sigh and let the lingering tension leave his body, he could hear the sound of rushing footsteps from the adjoining hall, just before Mina and Shoto nearly came sprinting into the doorway. While the red-white-haired boy looked visibly shocked at the clear close call Nikolay just had, Mina looked like she was on the verge of a heart attack, before her eyes started to well up with tears to still see him in one piece.

It was only for the fact that he still had the child with him that she had to forcefully swallow her words of fear and worry for the time being, instead just giving Nikolay a deeply relieved and emotional smile as he got back to his feet and rejoined them on their way back to the ground level.

"The ice I just laid down should help keep the building stable for a while. The noise of it unsettling drew several more examinees to the site, so they're going to see to extracting any remaining civilians in the area." Shoto explained once they finally stepped back out into the open, whereupon the kid, upon confirming he could still walk, hurriedly rejoined the rest of their groups' civilians, all standing at the foot of the extensive ice slide that had been laid down for their escape.

Now that the kid wasn't nearby to overhear, Mina let out a deeply shaken breath as she looked Nikolay in the eye; her hand instinctively twitching to try and reach out to take his. "That scared the hell out of me; seeing you both go falling away like that, Kolya-kun. I… I-I… I'm just so glad you're okay."

Nikolay never knew just how difficult it had been for her to restrain what other words she had felt coming up her throat in the raw emotion of that singular moment. What mattered, though, was that she was still able to ultimately get enough of the sentiment she wanted out into the open, and Nikolay seemed completely receptive to it. "Yeah… yeah, that scared me a lot, too, Mina. But at least we were able to get all those people out okay. Still, let's maybe try to avoid going into buildings not fully rooted to the ground from now on, yeah?"

The resigned smile and accepting nod Mina gave him seemed to be all the answer the Russian boy needed, as without further ado, they and Shoto once again proceeded to escort their gathered civilians together on their way back to the nearest relief station, ready to put this particular death trap behind them.

Once they were halfway back, however, they were soon met with the familiar smell of smoke from nearby. Looking down the street to their right, they were met with the sight of another blazing fire just a ways down; the result of several cars being crushed by the rubble of the destroyed buildings surrounding them, from the looks of it. However, the next thing they were quick to pick up on was the sound of several voices crying out for help from nearby.

Looking to their already large group of civilians, Nikolay felt a new spike of resolve in his chest. "The streets have already been cleared to make escorting civilians as smooth as possible. Mina, Todoroki-san, get everyone to the first-aid station. I'm going to see how many people are there and put the fires out, then we can figure out how else to help."

While his recent close call had Mina looking noticeably reluctant to have him go off by himself again, Shoto looked to be in complete understanding. Realizing they still had a greater responsibility to these people as of right now, Mina eventually gave her Russian partner a resolved nod of agreement. Like that, Nikolay took off like a shot towards the fire, while she and Shoto proceeded the rest of the way to the relief station.

Nikolay dug his heels in to stop his momentum before he reached the edge of the fire. Upon closer inspections, it did indeed seem that the destroyed cars were the source of the fire itself, while others still looked to be in solid shape, but the civilians inside were unable to get out due to the debris. Even if he couldn't make out their precise words of urgency, he could still make out the tones no problem. From where he stood and observed, it looked like there were at most half a dozen people trapped in this area.

'All right, from the positioning of their cars in relation to the fire, it's too risky to just use my Quirk to blow the flames out where I'm standing; it'd just send the fire right at them. It doesn't look like there are any explosive hazards on this side, either: no gas trucks or anything of the like. If I can just get to the other side of the blaze, I can use my Thunderous Clap to just blow the fires this way, and away from the civilians. Then I can worry about getting them out.'

All the while as he was making these environmental observations; even despite the heat, the civilians watching his actions from within the cars all felt a similar approval: "Good, you're not letting yourself succumb to panic, even when faced with a potential time limit situation. Heroes always need to consider the potential risks their Quirks bring when it comes to dealing with certain hazards. Simply blowing out the fire with wind from your position could put civilians in further danger etc. You just need to work on shortening your time strategizing. Minus a couple points for the delay."

Nikolay was already beginning to channel a store of energy down to his feet, ready to leap over the expanse of the fire and quickly extinguish it… but that was when he began to notice a sudden uptake in wind current from all around him, seeming to blow towards him with quickly building intensity… to the point it was soon turning into a whirlwind that was sending the flames lapping and leaping right towards the Russian boy himself. "OH, SHIT!"

With no other choice if he wanted to avoid getting turned extra crispy, Nikolay forfeited the energy from his legs and quickly channeled even more to his hands, kneeling down in a desperate attempt to avoid the bulk of the fire before he began firing upwards into the air above everyone's heads, dispersing the inferno being blown his way harmlessly into the sky. Within seconds, the whirlwind had finally managed to put the last of the fires out, while Nikolay's desperate rapid-firing save had managed to keep him from suffering more than a notably burnt brim of his mariner's cap, and a few singed hairs.

"Ah, I'm feeling especially fired up now! Any Hero who can observe a situation and instantly know how best to resolve it has gotta be one with a blazing spirit!" As soon as Nikolay's heart had stopped racing, his ears were quick to recognize the unmistakable intense shouting from the other side of the incident site. Once he was back on his feet, he instantly spotted the burgundy coat-adorned imposing figure of Inasa Yoarashi, standing with a blinding triumphant and excited grin on his face as he took in how thoroughly he'd managed to put out the fires once he'd arrived on the other side. From the looks of it, the rippling in the air that had created that insane whirlwind was emanating from the massive gauntlet he was wearing, as well as from some of the odd armored plates adorning the sleeves of his costume. 'I see… so that's what his Quirk is: unlike mine, which is just harnessing pure kinetic energy into a physical force, he actually controls the wind itself. It's definitely impressively strong… if not freakin' reckless!'

While Nikolay was silently fuming from nearly getting barbecued, Inasa was quick to spot his unexpected fellow examinee on the other side. "Oh! You're the foreign Yuuei boy! I was wondering where you all had gone in the middle of this!"

The over-eager smile on Inasa's face as he tried to approach Nikolay lost its luster once he came to a dead stop, spotting the slight burn damage to his costume. Thankfully, he was clearly quicker mentally than his demeanor or attitude made him seem, as he instantly realized what he had unintentionally done.

"I see… I had no idea someone else had already come onto the scene. I simply saw what was going on and took it at face value. Chances are you were getting ready to do exactly what I did, no doubt." Inasa's voice had gone especially low, even if his eyes didn't lose any of their intensity from before. Before Nikolay could start to answer, Inasa was already starting to reel his head back like a catapult. "Please, accept my sincerest… APOLO—"

"WAITWAITWAIT, STOP, STOP!" Nikolay exclaimed, trying to use himself as a prop to keep Inasa from driving his head into the concrete like he had this morning. It was a miracle the Shiketsu powerhouse had somehow managed to stop his momentum just short of driving their heads together.

With a shaky sigh of relief, Nikolay finally got back to his feet. "It's okay… neither of us had any idea of knowing the other was there, nobody got hurt, that's what's important, so let's just leave it at that. Now let's hurry and get these people out and back to the first-aid station."

Like the flipping of a switch, Inasa had his smile back, as he aimed his gauntlet and soon began to channel another, albeit much less intense, whirlwind that expertly managed to pick away every obstructing piece of debris from the cars that still had civilians inside. With that, Nikolay drove his tuning forks into the creases, and with only a single finger's worth of kinetic firing, managed to pry the doors open and help carry the elderly and children out alongside his unexpected new partner. "Is anyone here hurt?"

A couple old men pointed out what looked to be broken feet or lacerations on their heads, forcing the two boys to act quickly with the few medical supplies either of them had. "There's medical aid at the emergency station a little ways from here, everyone! We're going to get you there, and you'll all be kept safe there in the time before the rescue teams show up!"

Despite Inasa declaring this affirmation, it did little to visibly ease the people's spirits, as some were giving him and Nikolay disapproving glances. "Even if you two are already managing to work together, your starting point as a whole was abysmal! Heroes need to show complete environmental awareness at all times, for their partners and civilians alike! What kind of Hero team is it that can almost annihilate one half of itself in the process of removing a hazard? You need to be willing and able to slow down and assess where all the pieces on the board are! Minus points for both of you!"

While Nikolay nearly jerked his head on a swivel at the realization he was having points knocked off as well, Inasa looked down to his gauntlet and costume; his beady pupils reflecting total self-awareness. "They're right. I'd already been scolded on the potential damage my Quirk could unintentionally cause to people if I use it recklessly. I thought I'd already understood the extent of that… but clearly that isn't the case. That's why from now on; I'm going to make sure I do a hundred times better!"

With that declaration burning strong in his heart, Inasa proceeded to have one of the immobile old men hang onto his back while carrying another in his arms, with Nikolay quickly following suit. "Let's try to avoid going too fast. We need to consider everyone else's condition and exhaustion on the way to the first-aid station."

Inasa gave a completely understanding nod and eager smile, and soon the two boys were on their way, keeping a steady pace for the civilians that were able to walk and had no extensive injuries, to follow after them like sheep to their two shepherds.

After a couple minutes, they had managed to escort their whole bunch of civilians to the first-aid station with nary a step out of place or any further complications. It was certainly a relief, as Nikolay let out a tired sigh of his own once he and Inasa had made sure the other examinees manning the station had everything under control to attend to the new arrivals.

Once he knew for certain he couldn't find a sign of either Shoto or Mina anywhere (ultimately figuring they had been called elsewhere nearby to aid in further rescues), and having already decided to explore further towards the northern end of the city section, Nikolay and Inasa were quickly on the move, this time thankfully able to finally utilize their Quirks to cut the travel time by nearly three-quarters. As they moved, keeping their eyes open for any more civilians, Nikolay could still feel the Shiketsu boy's eyes watching him with razor sharp focus.

"My apologies again for my recklessness before, Bezpalov-san. If there are any hard feelings for the damage I caused you as a result, it would be completely understandable." Despite him saying so with that outlandishly energetic tone, Nikolay couldn't believe he was insisting on staying on that subject.

"It's perfectly all right, Yoarashi-san. We were both acting in the intensity of the moment. I should've called out to make sure somebody else wasn't around getting ready to clear the fires out, myself. We both have our shares of responsibility, so let's just leave it at that and focus on doing better from now on, please."

He was personally hoping his assurance could finally just let them get off the subject and back to the task at hand; scanning the wreckage below for any signs of movement that didn't look like Heroes. However, he never saw how his reassurances seemed to just set Inasa's gaze into an even greater inferno of enthusiasm.

"To be able to take something as serious as nearly getting injured by a fellow examinee, only to brush it off and take them on as a partner so they can both do better; that's exactly the kind of admirable attitude of a truly burning hot Heroic spirit if you ask me! Just what I would have expected from someone considered good enough for Yuuei Academy!"

This time, while still looking forward every now and again to maintain their course, Nikolay couldn't help but look back to Inasa incredulously. "To be fair, we just kind of started moving about in the same direction; nobody invited the other to partner up or anything. But with a Quirk clearly as strong as yours, we might be able to find a way to save a lot more civilians from here."

Despite the Slavic boy's pragmatic answer, Inasa's smile lost no luster, nor a shred of the honesty behind it. "No matter how you want to look at it, I'm still honored to work alongside one of Yuuei's alumni all the same! I thought nearly all of you kids had a really burning hot spirit when we were all watching you at the Sports Festival! And over all the time that's passed since All Might's retirement, a lot of information's been cropping up online from a bunch of foreign sources about that big foreign Hero who was fighting with him, Tunguska!

"I remember reading that he's apparently your old man, after that incident at Erubi City was all over the airwaves, just at the same time as the incident at Hosu City! With everything I was reading about him since then, he sounds like an especially bright and burning hot kind of Hero, too, just like All Might himself! If a Hero like that is your father, it's no wonder you'd be burning strong enough to be accepted not just into Yuuei, but into Class 1-A, too!"

Nikolay was at a genuine loss for ideas on how he could possibly answer such unexpected approval, perhaps even borderline admiration, on the part of someone who was clearly on such a higher power standing than he was. However, before he could say the first thing that came to mind, he and Inasa both caught a glimpse of movement within the debris of the top floors of one of the few taller buildings still standing straight.

Putting a pin in the conversation, the two boys made quick work of the situation, with Inasa displaying impressive accuracy with his individual whirlwinds emanating from the different holes in his gauntlet, expertly picking apart every bit of debris pinning the civilians down, while Nikolay went through the procedure of making sure they were still lucid and whether or not they were capable of standing or moving before anything else.

Once all was confirmed and Inasa finished setting the debris back in a way that didn't risk hurting anyone nearby, he and Nikolay each took two of the four civilians and carefully made their way back through the air to the first-aid station, handing them off to the attending examinees just as they had before. Just as quickly as they had returned, they were once more airborne, mutually agreeing to head back in the same direction under the assumption that there were bound to be more civilians in that direction.

Now that they were once again in the searching phase of their strategy, Nikolay finally figured out how to answer Inasa's earlier statements: "I appreciate you expressing that kind of sentiment, Yoarashi-san. However, here's what I don't get: it's so obvious that you have all the respect in the world for Yuuei and the people that go there. So then why did you turn down your acceptance after you went and got the biggest score in the entire entrance exam? On top of that, what was with that stand-off between you and Todoroki-san back in the waiting room? You were like a completely different person then."

To both Nikolay's surprise and dread, Inasa actually met him with momentary silence. "There's still too much work to be done right now, Bezpalov-san. I don't want to discuss Todoroki right now."

"That's where I have to interject and respectfully disagree, Yoarashi-san. If we're going to be working together, and run the risk of Todoroki-san potentially working alongside us before this exam is over, then I feel I have the right to at least know why you bear such intense ill-will to a classmate and friend of mine. If our roles were reversed, and I bared such sentiments towards one of your classmates, I would at least give you the courtesy of an explanation. Having that kind of understanding of each other, I would think, would allow partners to work the best they can together."

Chancing only a momentary glance to his side, Nikolay felt an instant chill when he saw the deeply troubled grimace on Inasa's face, although he couldn't tell if it was simply in response to just the thought of Shoto, or because he was seeing the admittedly skewed logic of what the Russian boy was arguing with.

"Fine. If you really want to know, Bezpalov-san, then I won't insult you by telling you nothing. All you really need to know is that, when we took the elected entrance exam together, all I saw in that kid was the eyes of someone solely driven by pure selfishness, the very same eyes I saw in his father, Endeavor; the eyes of someone who doesn't deserve the title or honor of being called a Hero."

Nikolay's eyes were wide with surprise and remembrance. Back in those earliest days of the school year, he had likewise gotten a very unpleasant impression from Shoto when first seeing him. However, with that remembrance came the reminder of just how much more at ease he felt in his presence nowadays, even despite Shoto's natural distant demeanor. That was why the response came to Nikolay so surprisingly fast: "I understand where you're coming from, believe it or not, Yoarashi-san. However, a lot of time has passed since the entrance exam, and Todoroki-san has gone through a lot of change since then, I've seen a good deal of it myself. If you could just take the little bit of time to really speak with him one on one, you'd see it too. He's not the same person he was back then."

By this point, they were finally reaching the northern edge of the city section, and had thus decided to stop over on the top of one of the buildings in order to get a better lay of the land and see where there may have been any potential wreckage for the civilians to set themselves up in that had a lack of present examinees. However, while Nikolay was trying to scout the surrounding area as best he could without binoculars, Inasa's still scowling expression showed he was no longer in the right headspace to focus on the exam at hand, now instead staring at the young Russian's back.

"Your heart is in the right place, Bezpalov-san, but you're still too naïve for your own good if you think someone like Endeavor's boy can change so quickly from having eyes as cold as his. If he can already embody his father's kind of selfishness this early in his life, there's no real hope for him to come back around. I don't like saying it any more than you like hearing it, I'm sure, but I'm simply stating what's realistic. His heart is frigid cold in comparison to everyone else's that's working hard out here… both of their hearts are. Anything you say to try and argue that is ultimately just fooling yourself."

That discounting of his own personal sentiments towards his classmate's growth was what ultimately broke Nikolay's focus, as he turned on his heels to look Inasa in the eyes; his own face now expressing exceptional seriousness. "You keep using these words when talking about what makes someone a Hero, so I'll do the same for you: what kind of fiery Heroic heart do you need to have to be able to judge someone that harshly, when you ultimately don't even know them, Yoarashi-san?

"No matter what you say, you only ever really saw Todoroki-san for the blink of an eye, so you ultimately don't know a thing about him as a person, only as his father's son. Let me tell you this right now: just from what I've heard about Endeavor from his own mouth, I can already tell you that if there's anyone Todoroki-san is nothing like, it's him. In fact, if you even had an inkling of an idea just what Endeavor had put him through to make him the way you saw him back then, then you'd understand why he was the way he was, and more importantly, why he's completely different now."

Nikolay had to really exercise his willpower to keep from flinching under the intensity of Inasa's stare, but just as it seemed the Shiketsu boy was about to answer him in kind, his gaze inched just past the Russian boy's shoulder, prompting his impromptu partner to follow suit. Just across the road from the building they were perched atop, there appeared to be two more civilians signaling for help from within the busted windows halfway up another barely standing building.

Once again putting their discussion on hold, the two boys quickly flew onto the scene, addressing all visible injuries and moving in tandem to get them back to the station for aid and organization for the next group to get moved to the rescue station.

However, as they once more took off to look out for further civilian movement, their minds were still exactly where they had left off, as Inasa's voice lost none of the razor sharp bite to it: "I don't understand how you can so readily come to that bastard's defense like that, Bezpalov-san. Watching you two go at it in your fight at the Sports Festival, one could've been forgiven for thinking you were both trying to kill each other. I would have suspected you, more than anyone, would be able to understand my feelings towards him."

However, whereas his body was still tensed up with simmering anger, Nikolay's body, in comparison, let go of its tension, as his mind began reflecting back in regret. "Because… not too long before that time; I also was driven by purely selfish motives, albeit for very different reasons. If you had seen me back then, Yoarashi-san, I have no doubt you'd feel just as much hate for me as you do Todoroki-san. Who knows, perhaps even greater?"

For the first time in several minutes, the anger on Inasa's face shifted; and his beady and laser-focused pupils now reflected complete confusion. "I don't see how that could be possible, though. You reflect a sense of total focus, but you also show a demeanor of kindness that all burning hot Heroes should have, just like the rest of your classmates. What could you possibly have been like, that could even compare to someone as ice cold as Todoroki?"

Once more taking a stop on the same building as before to further investigate their surroundings, Nikolay let out a gravely deep sigh. "There's so much to unpack in order for you to fully understand what I mean; a lot of info you're not going to find anywhere online. All you need to really know is that back then, my selfishness wasn't out of a desire to become stronger like it was for Todoroki-san. No, my selfishness was out of a desire to completely isolate myself from… all of this. Quirks, Heroes, Villains, I didn't want a single solitary thing to do with any of it. If it could've been in my power, I gladly would've given up my Quirk and just turned my back on all of this.

"However, my father brought me along with him to Japan at All Might's invitation so we could have a fresh start again, and after a lot of… a lot of very painful reflecting, and a lot of helping hands and just the overall… the overall friendship that my classmates and friends all offered me with no provocation, it all helped me to remember just how much I'd wanted to be a Hero when I was so much smaller. I once thought it was impossible, but for what felt like the first time in my life, I'd finally remembered what it felt like to not be completely alone, to actually feel some semblance of happiness and gratitude for all the things I really had in my life again. I didn't want to make my losses, my parents' sacrifices and the kindness and efforts of all my new friends be for nothing, and that's why I swore to myself and all of them that I would put everything I had towards becoming the Hero I always wanted to be, and be able to stand proudly alongside every one of them."

As Nikolay finally worked up the courage to look Inasa in the eye again, the Shiketsu boy was genuinely taken aback at the sudden amount of pure emotion reflected in his green eyes behind his goggles. "The reason I'm telling you all of this, Yoarashi-san, is because if I could make that kind of incredible change in mood and deep-rooted belief… then so can Todoroki-san. Again, just take the chance to really speak to him, really know him, and you'll see for yourself he's not that same kid from before."

Inasa's eyes slowly fell to the ground beneath his feet; his brow just barely twitching as he took the Russian Yuuei student's words into consideration. He did genuinely respect the kid and didn't want to just disregard everything he was saying. Hell, Nikolay was displaying a tremendous leap of faith and mutual respect by opening up to him so suddenly about something that was clearly so deeply personal. To just ignore that would've not only been downright disrespectful; it would've left him undeserving of the honor of being a Hero, by his own perspective.

However, Inasa's emotions towards Shoto Todoroki and Endeavor were so deeply rooted inside himself, and their connection to each other was so unbending, that he likewise couldn't just put that aside because of the contrary words of one other person. In the time he least expected to find himself in such a position, Inasa Yoarashi was actually finding himself at a crossroads with himself.

Clenching his fists at his sides, he finally lifted his piercing eyes to meet Nikolay's emotionally open gaze again. "I think I have at least a better understanding of you and where you're coming from now, Bezpalov-san, and you have my sincerest thanks for imparting that to me. However, at the end of the day, I can only take what you're saying in relation to Todoroki as hearsay. Until I can truly see this change you speak of in him with my own eyes… then I simply can't fully take your sentiments about him to heart. I already know you understand that full well."

With that, and not wanting this discussion to go any further, Inasa took off with another self-produced gale force wind to patrol further along the northern edge of the city section, prompting a regretful Nikolay to follow after him, watching his back while thinking in solemnity to himself: 'Taking that time to watch and getting to know him… that's all I can respectfully ask you to do, Yoarashi-san. Todoroki-san has gone through so much to get past the way he was and where he came from. You deserve to know the real him.'

---

Patrolling the northern edges had produced some quick and fortunate results, as Nikolay and Inasa had soon spotted a couple more injured senior citizens trying to navigate their way through a destroyed park setting, and were thankfully able to efficiently see to their conditions and get them back to the station, where a number of examinees had finally started to return to with more civilians of their own.

As they made their latest return and set their civilians back down to be further attended to, Nikolay couldn't help but observe just how many examinees and civilians had already gathered here. With all the time that had already passed since the start of this exam, he couldn't imagine there were that many people left. In the strangest way, though, there was actually a part of him that couldn't help but see the overall procession of this exam as… surprisingly straightforward. Far from easy, but no surprise curveballs to be seen.

"There you are, Kolya-kun!" The sound of Mina's voice calling out to him had Nikolay reeling with the knowledge that he had actually gone so long through this exam without her by his side, it almost felt surreal to hear and soon see her again, as the beaming pink girl was hurrying over to him and Inasa, with Shoto and, surprisingly, the incredibly hairy Shiketsu High boy following suit behind her.

"I was wondering where you had disappeared to, Inasa-san! You seem to still be in good spirits, so I can only assume that means you two have been working well together?" As soon as the hairy boy asked, Inasa pumped a confident fist to his chest, grinning from ear to ear. "Absolutely, Mora-san! Bezpalov-san and I have been saving lots of people across the northern part of this section! I'm feeling all fired up still, and I can tell he is, too!"

As the two Shiketsu boys started chatting with each other again, Nikolay had his attention on Shoto and Mina. "Well, it's good to know I wasn't the only one of us deciding to work with Shiketsu High, from the looks of it."

Shoto glanced back to the hairy boy, Mora, with that same unreadable expression. "After we'd arrived with our civilians after you'd split off to check that fire, Nagamasa over there asked for our help with rescuing some civilians near the waterfront section. It was surprisingly hectic over there, but we've been managing to get all the people we could find over there to safety here. It's only just recently started to slow down in that section now. I'm imagining a majority of the civilians have managed to be rescued and escorted to the rescue station by now. I imagine this exam can't last for too much longer."

Nikolay let out an admittedly relieved sigh of exhaustion, to know that even someone as observant as Shoto seemed to be of the same opinion as him. If he truly believed they were nearing the endgame of this exam, he had no reason to argue. As he thought this, Shoto suddenly returned his attention to Nikolay: "By the way, Nagamasa has been asking around as to the whereabouts of a classmate of his; that girl whom Midoriya, Kaminari and Mineta were all making such a racket about earlier. Utsushimi Camie, I believe he said was her name. You and Yoarashi haven't come across any sign of her by any chance, have you, Bezpalov?"

Remembering all too well that very girl and what Izuku had said she had done with him, Nikolay had to really fight to keep his face from turning red again. "Unfortunately, no. If there were some way to communicate with you all from across the grounds, I'd happily keep an eye open and let you all know if I did." As he explained this, Nikolay glimpsed Inasa shooting that same hateful glare into Shoto's back while Mora was still talking to him. However, he had to try and not stare in order to avoid drawing his classmate's attention to it.

"Hey, Kolya-kun, you're bleeding!" The urgency in Mina's sudden interjection snapped Nikolay to attention as he followed her wide-eyed gaze down to his arms. He felt an instant chill when he was greeted by the sight of half a dozen tears in his sleeves, with all of them just a few shades darker red than the sleeves naturally were. Upon looking closer, he could see only the tiniest specks of glass reflecting the sunlight under his sleeves.

"Oh, damn! This must've been from when I went through that window with that kid before! These must've gotten in there when I rolled across the ground for a landing! I guess my adrenaline must've been going so strong, I didn't even feel it… until now. Ow!"

---

After having watched the rescue exam continue on undisturbed for a good several more minutes, Yokumiru Mera was genuinely beginning to wonder, amidst his drowsiness of course, just where on earth the outside party he'd given the go-ahead to enter the exam grounds was right now. He'd been expecting things to kick off right from the word go. Were they just biding their time and letting the examinees get into a false sense of security before they would make their move? In a way, such a strategy made sense.

Just as he was about ready to hit the secondary intercom and check, the very same thing suddenly sprang to life at his station overlooking the grounds. "Screening the injured and giving them temporary treatment in preparation for gathering at the evacuation point. In the relatively small time before the rescue teams arrive, Heroes will fill in the gap, smoothly acting as the intermediary. What's the current status of things, Mera-san?"

With his cue, Mera hurriedly pulled up all the information of the ongoing exam as he deemed absolutely necessary. "Well, as far as the initial response goes, there's quite a number of subpar individuals. However, that being said, the folks from the H.U.C. are actually doling out fewer point deductions now than I thought they would. By and large, things are actually going quite well, wouldn't you think?"

"Yes. In order to protect civilians, Heroes will be asked to carry out complex operations. Not just relief measures…. but also…"

---

BOOOOM!

The moment Mina had started to approach, insisting for Nikolay to let her take a closer look and tend to his glass lacerations, the entire stadium was suddenly rumbling and echoing with a single devastating explosion from near the ground entrance. The shockwave of the explosion sent several of the examinees sprawling to the ground, even knocking Nikolay on his backside from the surprise and concussive power of it all.

With the makeshift plugs in his ears having only been specifically made to block a certain frequency, his head was positively ringing once the explosions had finally run their course. As he got back to his feet, trying to make sense of what happened like everyone else, Nikolay was stricken frozen with shock once he could finally see what stood in the mouth of the massive hole the explosion had left:

Standing imposingly on the ridge that now overlooked the rescue station and first-aid station alike, was none other than the killer whale-looking Hero he and his classmates had seen all the way back in Kamino, just before All Might's final battle had commenced; the one he instantly remembered hearing Izuku refer to as Gang Orca.

What was more; he was far from alone, as standing threateningly at both his sides were over a dozen men in matching black bodysuits, with numerous bulky weapons attached to their hands that neither Nikolay nor many of the other examinees were going to dare guess as to what they could do.

Confusion was still running rampant among every one of the examinees immediately present, but the one thing they could all see clear as day, was that by the way Gang Orca was standing before them, the way he was dressed, and even just by the looks of his own compatriots, he was not here to assist them. If anything, his stance made it obvious that he was intentionally trying to strike fear into all of their hearts, and by god, it was working.

---

With his long-awaited outside party having finally decided to make their move, Mera's eyes were now sharply affixed to his multitude of screens; keeping a discerning eye not only on the examinees, but primarily just what their first course of action was going to be once he made his penultimate announcement for the rescue exam. 'Those youngsters are certainly going to have their work cut out for them now. Gang Orca's far from a slouch in the Pro Hero world. He's ranked the Number Ten Hero in the entire country, and on the list of 'Heroes Who Look Most Like Villains,' he's ranked as Number Three!'

No longer willing to just sit idle and waste time, he finally hit the button and made the single most serious announcement of the entire Provisional License Exam: "Attention! With the appearance of Villains, the pursuit has officially begun! Hero cadets who are on the scene, it falls to all of you to suppress the Villains at all costs, and continue to carry on with your rescue operations!"

---

As the ultimate weight of fear, confusion and realization pounded down on the hearts of every single examinee across the exam grounds, Nikolay could feel his whole body trembling once more… but instead of that same overwhelming confusion that the likes of Minoru were clearly going through, he was instead beginning to feel that same grim realization he had felt back in the waiting room, once it had become clear what this last exam was even going to be, and what it was mimicking.

'Of course, why wouldn't they throw something like this at us?! How many stories did Dad tell me over all this time of having to fight Villains while rescuing civilians at the same time? He always said that Heroes need to be able to multitask at a split second's notice! God, I feel like my stomach is twisting in knots on top of knots… but none of that matters anymore, does it? Heroes have to fight and protect more than anything else. If we can't do all of that together…then we have no right to call ourselves Heroes at all… do we?'

As Nikolay began ruminating on this grim conclusion; with Mera's final announcement, Gang Orca brought a single powerful hand up, before clenching it into a mighty fist. With that signal, the uniformed goons at his sides instantly began to rush en masse towards the rescue station, and all the shaken and scattered Heroes that were now meant to stand as the one wall of protection for it.

Gazing upon the chaotic scene and the exemplars of Heroic youth he was now intended to bring the fight to, the Number Ten Hero (and temporary Villain) in all of Japan had only one thing to say to make this entire exam's intentions known: "How will you respond… O young Heroes?!"

And there it is, everyone, the final chapter for 2021! I hope you all enjoyed it! Here's to a hopefully just as productive 2022. Even I can only imagine just what surprises this next year will have for this story. I hope to hear your thoughts on how you all think this story has been going in your opinions so far.

Happy Holidays to all of you, a Happy New Year, and I will see you all with the next chapter next week to literally ring in the New Year! Thank you all for your continuous support through everything! It means more to me than you can ever possibly know!