I've watched 5 episodes of Witch from Mercury season 2 and yeah, it's just as good as I remember it being, but I suppose not binging it is a good thing as I can space it out, and enjoy it in little bits rather then gouging myself on it and then having one less good show to watch as I've seen the reviews for Secret Invasion, if I wanted nonsense made by people who don't respect their creation or their fans, I'll watch trashy isekai anime, it never pretends to be good or lies to you, it's trash, its generic, so you enter with expectations already low and leave the same.
Chapter 6: First Phase Cleared
Watching one of the exercise fields be all but destroyed, the group each had different reactions. Eri was amazed that something like that could happen, that someone could have such power as she knew Kai was strong, but had never seen him truly let loose. Midoriya was just as awed as her child, but her attention was certainly peaked as she had studied pros and meta-abilities enough to know that even among a field of pros, whoever caused that was top pro material as like it or not, you needed a powerful meta-ability to even think about breaking the top 50.
Aizawa watched with a critical eye, showing nothing in the way of emotion as he calmly observed the exam, with Ms Joke smiling proudly as she looked towards the slowly settling dust cloud, a look that Izuku caught. "You don't seem surprised by that little seismic event." The woman turned to her with a cheeky smile.
"Because it was one of my students that caused it, he's a smart one, but is a little two-faced." She didn't give them any more of whoever this was, but Izuku could see why she would be proud of her students, as even Rappa would crack a joke and pat(slam) her back whenever she got a handle of something he showed her.
"I assume he did it to split them up, make my students easier pickings?" Aizawa asked.
"That sounds like something he would do, he doesn't have the best grades but when it comes to observation and planning, he's a cut above the rest of my students." Ms Joke confirmed as she had known the boy since his first year and while she wasn't his teacher back then, she had been a kind of mentor to the boy as he had a bad habit of letting his conniving sideshow, which didn't help him earn friends or ease public tension as he could look more like a villain than the actual villains at times.
"Meaning he most likely figured out that going into this that the info they could gleam from the Sports Festival wouldn't be the best," Aizawa concluded, not even needing to see Joke confirm his suspicion as while he would like to not have to deal with her and her bad puns and desire to make him smile, he wasn't blind to her skills as a pro and teacher. Truth be told, if he was to warn his students about anything, it would have been any students she directly taught and another school.
"Come now, there should be 1 or 2 that passed by now, how about speeding things up so I can get some well-deserved rest, yeah?" Mera's tired voice carried through the stadium, as Midoriya wondered if the man would pass out at his post, she noticed something happening on the field, what appeared to be a disturbance in the air akin to All Might's attacks…no, it was different.
"What's going on over there?" She pointed towards it, with the two teachers looking as well, but not having any better luck than she was.
"No clue seems to be a quirk at work." Ms Joke narrowed her eyes, trying to pick out what the tiny objects she could see were, but from this distance, it was fruitless.
Seeing this, and realizing that it was air being manipulated on a large scale, Aizawa spoke. "I have a good idea who."
The three waited to hear a response, but when they got none, Izuku moved to get the answers herself as she got up from her seat and approached one of the examiners, tapping them on their shoulder to draw their attention. "Excuse me, could I borrow those binoculars?" The man looked towards the pair he had been using before he nodded to the one he had next to him.
Normally, he would have refused as he would need both in case one developed issues as the binoculars he was using were both designed to offer more than just ranged vision but were also expensive. However, he was one of those who found her group's antics funny and a good way to add some chuckles to his day, so he compromised. "Take the spare, just don't break."
"Thanks," Midoriya grabbed the pair with a smile before getting back to her seat. Moving them to her eyes, she was surprised by just how good they were as she could view the other side of the stadium with ease, being able to make out a remarkable amount of detail. The binoculars also compensated for glare from the sun and had markers like a video came which when she moved them, she realized that they were tuned to track targets on students. It wasn't perfect as she couldn't pick which student she wished to find, but it did make it easier to spot them in the chaos of the field, not that she needed it for the one she was looking for.
"It's Yoarashi, I didn't know he had a wind-based quirk, and a powerful one to boot." She saw the boy, in his hero costume, perched atop a building with the winds circling him, within the tornado of his creation, she could finally make out what those dark objects were. 'What are those…are those balls, there are too many to just be his own.'
It didn't take more than a couple seconds for Izuku to realize why he would have so many, with a smile growing on her face she waited for the final blow. 'Of course! He's meta-ability! He used it to steal the balls from his competition, no wonder he can stand there without fear, but that also means-' With seemingly no effort, Yoarashi sent them all flying back down towards what must have been a couple of dozen targets when she considered how many balls he had stolen.
"Oh, it's about time someone pass-WHAT?! THAT'S INSANE! JUST ONE STUDENT TOOK DOWN 120 PEOPLE IN A SINGLE ATTACK?!" Her smile was even larger as she heard Mera blow her assumptions out of the water. Oh, if only she had the time to have spoke with him before this, the chance to study and question such a powerful meta-ability would have made her day!
Of course, her excitement over such a showing of power wasn't shared with the two pros as even Aizawa sat straighter at that announcement. "Holy-what do they teach those students?" Ms. Joke asked.
"From our interaction with him, I would say that this tracks," Midoriya replied, while he seemed to be energetic and extremely forward in his opinions, Yoarashi did seem like the type to train extremely hard and be more than willing to show off the fruits of that labour.
"That surprised me so much that I'm awake, everyone, why don't you take that as an indication to speed things up!" She chuckled when she heard how even the sleep-deprived Mera got a shot of energy from that.
"Momma, why did he take out so many people?" Izuku looked towards Eri, who looked confused by the act rather than surprised, which she supposed made sense as she heard the rules the same as them. There was no practical need to take out so many when just 2 was enough to pass. It wasn't like he would get bonus points either so while impressive, it was a waste of effort.
"He's…eccentric, blessing." She didn't know how to explain this to Eri, so she went with the simplified version for the moment. Perhaps she could try and give her a more detailed explanation later. "But that leaves me wondering how my classmates will respond, they don't seem like the type to sit back and take something like that lying down." She went back to looking towards the field, stopping now and then to jolt down her notes, observations and theories on meta-abilities.
"That's now 53 people who have passed, things have been moving along. I would advise the rest of you to hurry up, less than 50 spots are remaining but hey, with 250 already failed, that means less competition for you." Around 15 minutes later, Mera came back in to announce the latest change, though Izuku had been lucky enough to see a few of those students pass through several ways, some uses creative plans, others overwhelmed their opponents, a couple snuck up on them right as they were about to be taken out by someone else.
All in all, it kept things engaging for her as she had already filled up another 2 dozen pages in her notebook. It was right after this that she finally caught sight of one of U.A.'s first-year power-houses when she picked up some ice being created and melted off in the industrial area. "I've found Todoroki, he seems to be struggling against students dressed like shinobi." She would have given more of a description, but she didn't want to distinguish them by colour as she imagined that even if she was down in the thick of it that she would be able to say there was anything unique about them in comparison to the rest.
Thankfully, her short description was enough for Aizawa to realize who they were. "That'll be Seijin High, they're one of those schools which encourages students to have similar costumes." There were a few schools that followed such a creed, which had the effect of instilling a greater unity among their students that even if they would alter their costumes and change their hero names upon graduation, most of them would flock to the same agencies if not start their own.
Ms. Joke knew this as well, having gone to such a school when school herself which meant she could speak to how well they could train their students, especially when it came to group activities to foster teamwork and quirk synergy. "Your boy doing alright?" Izuku frowned as she continued to watch the fight, but if she was honest with herself, it was closer to an ambush.
"No, they seem to have come prepared for his ice and fire but," Todoroki was holding out, but only barely as his quirk's power was the only thing keeping him in the running, as she could already tell he had been tagged once by a ball. As she observed things, she did pick up that his ice attacks were as powerful and precise as she expected from his Sports Festival performance she would say he had improved both aspects to that part of his quirk.
However, the same couldn't be said for his ice as he could launch off small glaciers in an instant, but his fire took a couple of seconds and wasn't nearly as powerful, the type of attacks that Endeavour could throw around without so much as trying. "His fire attacks aren't nearly as effective as his ice. I know that during the festival he exclusively used ice, but you would think he's never used his fire with how he's fighting."
"That's because he didn't." Aizawa's response was so unexpected that both she and Ms Joke turned to him in shock.
"What?" Ms Joke thought she heard him wrong, that just didn't make any sense, disregarding the fact that hero work always required you to perform at your best, the idea that Aizawa Shota would not discipline such a student for months was insane, he was a taskmaster on the best of days to his students.
Knowing that he would have to explain himself, lest Ms Joke would pester him for hours, he continued with a sigh. "I don't know why, but from the day he took the recommendation exam to our summer training, Todoroki refused to use his fire."
"And you didn't force him?" Ms Joke asked him, finding the idea that he wouldn't take issue with someone purposely holding back strange, and he knew it.
"I wanted to, but the principal thought it unnecessary when he could get along just fine with just his ice," Aizawa explained as when he first got the boy's file, he didn't think much of him. he might have came second in the recommendation's exam, but the fact that he was holding back was enough for Aizawa to dislike the boy before they even met, so much so that he wished to expel him during the quirk test if he continued with his behaviour, but Nezu caught him before he even met his class and requested that he didn't though he never gave him a reason, all he did say was that he wasn't doing this out of some favour to Endeavour.
"What changed then?" Izuku asked, as he sounded worse than Bakugo as she could say a lot of negatives about the explosive blond, she had experienced many of those negatives but she could say with certainty that he did his absolute best in all that he did. Even if he didn't respect you enough to remember your name, he still studied and trained hard to maintain his top spot throughout their lives.
"Hosu." The two greenheads' eyes widened as he spoke that one word. They didn't need to hear more as despite not being present, one had seen the aftermath first-hand, and the other read about it in the news. The League's second attack wasn't small by any means, nor was the bloodshed that night. U.A. hadn't gotten out unscratched either as they lost someone, a student in that madness.
Aizawa signed, seemingly ageing a decade from the emotional baggage that came with remembering that night. When he first got word, that Iida had been killed in an illogical situation he as his teacher should have seen coming-did see coming but chose not to act on it. Because of that, he not only lost a student but was left with a class deeply affected by his loss.
"He came back...hurt, traumatised." He noticed how the boy carried himself, just like Shinso, there was an absence to him after that, one that didn't completely disappear as time went on. It didn't help that Uraraka seemed to be openly hostile to him afterwards, not so much in words but his posture and attitude towards him as while not close before, she had been friendly with everyone but now when it came to Todoroki, she seemed to barely tolerate him outside classwork. "He started training with fire, but he's gone years avoiding it, so his skills with it are no better than a 10-year-olds." Todoroki had been eager during their summer camp to work with his fire, but he just had too much ground to cover.
"And it seems to be showing." Ms. Joke finished.
'Physical attacks for his ice, water and what looks like mud for his fire. Throw in their teamwork and they're a formidable force.' Izuku thought to herself as she went back to watching the fight and observed how these Seijin seem to know their stuff and work incredibly well together as they didn't seem to need much to understand when and how to do something, keeping Todoroki in the backfoot as they pushed him further back.
At this rate, it was only a matter of time before they pinned him and took him out, a shame as it meant that class 1-A wouldn't make it out in 1 piece, but if he was so arrogant as to neglect a part of his quirk till a classmate died, then a little humiliation will serve him good.
On the field, her predictions were coming to pass as Todoroki felt himself getting tired as he dodged another water and dirt attack that fused to form mud. He didn't need to test it to know that they were trying to slow him down and capture him in it. He wasn't given a respite as he had to immediately throw up a glacier of ice to stop the giant bolt from hitting him, falling back when the ice started to crack under the strain of massive nails striking it.
Launching himself up with a pillar of ice, he avoided another attack as his attackers closed in on him. "We told you, heading off by yourself was a bad move!" The apparent leader, who hadn't revealed their names, so Todoroki just referred to him as Red.
'I can't keep this up, they have me cornered, but I knew this might happened.' However, despite how much he was struggling, Todoroki smiled as he saw something approaching his attackers from the rear.
"Say cheese!" A familiar bubbly voice shouted out, scaring the ninja heroes as their leader turned around, his tools at the ready to take out whoever thought it was smart to try and jump them.
"Wha-!" Only to see nothing but a pair of floating gloves-wait, no, it was an invisible girl, the one from the Sports Festival when did she-
They weren't given any more time to think as in the moment that passed from her announcing herself, Hagakure sprung to action with her ultimate move. "Light Refraction!" If they thought she was just the invisible girl, there were in for a rude awaking as she bent the daytime light through her invisible body, and directed it all around her like a disco ball, blinding those who are nearby. With their sight robbed from them, Hagakure made her move as she rushed the first one, she could, this being red with her balls in hand.
As she tagged him 3 times, she called out to her classmate and friend who had shielded his eyes from the attack. "Thanks for distracting them, Shoto!" Before the effects of her quirk could fade, the Seijin found themselves trapped in ice to the necks, with only their targets left exposed.
"You're welcome," Todoroki replied, taking a breath of relief as their plan worked.
Even though he was out of the exam, red couldn't help but gawk at how Hagakure bounced over to Todoroki, with the guy acting completely differently to the Sports Festival where he could barely function in a team, yet now was able to manage just fine? "But…how?"
He didn't need to see it but he had a feeling that Hagakure was smiling in triumph as she scored her second knockout off one of his classmates. "We figured that you would all go after ice master, Shoto here, so I tagged along to watch his back."
Todoroki nodded along, though he blushed a little at how casually the girl used his name. "I still don't know how they didn't spot the moving pair of gloves and boots." He noted as he moved about, moving around with one of his balls in hand before letting them out, no point leaving those who failed trapped.
"And that's another two who passed and two who failed. That's 55 spots taken." Mera's announcement sealed it as he tagged his second target, one of the yellows.
"I can be sneaky when I want to be!" Hagakure seemed to take offence to that statement as they left them behind and left, leaving those still in the running.
A couple of minutes later, the two walked through the parts of the industrial zone still intact with Todoroki having a pensive look to him which Hagakure caught as she pocked his side. "Something on your mind, Shoto."
Looking to where he was pretty sure her face was, he replied. "I know that the plan was meant to address my lack of skills with my fire, but still, I should have been able to do more." He looked at his hands, forming fists as he recalled how hard it was to make any real use of his flames, even though he tried to emulate his bastard of a father, he had to painfully admit that there was far more to Endeavour's techniques that just throwing fire around, and he hadn't grasped that yet.
His fists were touched by a gentle hand, even if he couldn't see it, he could feel how warm it was as Hagakure opened his hands up again, relaxing him with little effort. "You're doing enough, trust me. The Shoto I knew from the first day wouldn't even accept that he needed help." He didn't like that he had been so bad in the beginning, worse than his old man as for all his faults, he could work well with others without his ego getting in the way.
Still, he took comfort from his friend, his only friend really as nodded. "…Thanks, Hagakure."
"What did I say about my name, Shoto?" His blush from earlier returned, as he looked at her, not understanding why he felt so weird about this.
"But it's-" His response was cut from the get-go by Hagakure who placed a gloved finger on his lips, giggling at how flustered he looked.
"I don't care. I gave you my permission."
"You did…Toru." As always, he couldn't see her expression, but he got the impression that she was happy with that, but their conversation got interrupted by both their targets lit up, going blue and with it, an automated announcement.
"Students who have passed the exam are to make their way to the anteroom." With their message passed on, they turned off again.
"You heard the instructions, let's huff it! I could use a snack right about now!" Hagakure cheered as she turned and increased her pace, Todoroki following close behind.
"Smart move, Todoroki," Izuku muttered as she lowered her binoculars, having seen the entire trap go off without a hitch. "Smart move."
"He passed," Aizawa asked, to which Izuku nodded.
"Yes, alongside Hagakure. I'm guessing here, but it looked like he was a distraction and she used that to get in close." She replied as she put the binoculars down and reached into her bag, taking out some lunchbox with apple slices and a sandwich for Eri to snack on, her little blessing's eyes lighting up when she saw her favourite fruit.
"Smart for a girl that is invisible, though I would imagine they should have seen that coming." Ms Joke replied, finding the sight next to her adorable as Eri started munching on her snack while Izuku combed a hand through her hair.
"Todoroki hasn't been the most social of my students for the longest time, it seemed that he was forming a bond with Hagakure after the USJ incident, but it's been kicked into high gear since the Training camp." Aizawa would refuse any allegations that he also found the sight cute, lest Hizashi or Nemuri start sending him pictures of cured stuff again. He already has enough to deal with as they randomly sent him cat videos they found.
"Again, they didn't predict that Todoroki would change his approach to things too much as to include a friend," Izuku noted, a little disappointed that Todoroki hadn't been bested but could accept that his opponents had just not planned for him having help.
"Correct, and Hagakure has been diligently working on her stealth skills for a while now, it's a logical way to handle things by creating a big obvious target as a means to distract your target, made all the more enticing by the fact said distraction is a power-house," Aizawa stated, a smile hidden by his capture weapon at the skill of his students, now if only he could know the details regarding the other 17.
"Oh, Eraser, you don't need to hide it. You're proud of your students!" His smile vanished as of course; Ms. Joke would be able to pick up on that. As the woman pestered the man and he looked thoroughly done with it, Izuku kept an eye on them while she tended to her child.
'He's rough around the edges, and there are still some questions I need to answer about him…' She wondered if he would care for her as much as he did the rest, but banished the idea from her mind. She was used to her teachers ignoring her, besides she was a late addition to his class, it would take time for him to warm up to her even if he did want to be cordial with her. 'But Ms Joke seems to be on the money, but with 2 students through, what about the other 17?'
Somewhere on the field, a different group of students kept an eye on for other potential targets, but while they could take out some of those that happened by, they had been waiting for special ones to appear, which they happened to do. "Ms Psy. We'll soon have company. 4 UA students have entered the building."
The one she had reported to placed down the teacup she had been drinking from, the table covered with a white cloth and other small snacks scattered about, a sign that they had been waiting a while for this. "Shall we look at the video?"
"Certainly." She first girl, a short and plump pink-haired teen nodded before she opened one of her eyes, revealing that her pupils were black before they turned pink right as a projection shot out and formed a screen to allow the second girl to see.
The hologram showed four people entering a building, the same one that had set up shop in, seeing who they were brought a smile to her face. "Arm duplication, a soundwave manipulator, a frog and creation quirk." Identifying them, she closed her eyes and activated her quick, allowing her increased cognitive abilities and IQ to work their magic as she went over the dozens of plans that she had formed for taking out U.A. students, selecting the counters she had thought up for the 4 in question before mixing them into a new plan of attack.
All this took less than 5 seconds before she opened her eyes once more, an amused glint to lavender eyes as she stood up. "It seems that our prey has been provided, please gather the others."
"Yes, Ms Psy." Her classmate bowed; one hand folded over her gut before she turned to follow that order
Adjusting her monocle, Intelli Saiko couldn't help but feel good about this. 'The formula for my success is flawless. What an excellent day for an exam.'
In the anteroom, the doors leading into it opened to allow both Todoroki and Hagakure inside, a bot outside scanning one of their targets to confirm they passed before they were allowed in, though why one was needed was beyond the duel-haired boy as he figured that the instructors knew when someone was taken out. "Wow, I know that they said over 50 have passed, but seeing it is a totally different story," Hagakure noted, seeing that the room was already filled with a bunch of people, some seemingly from the same school and in conversations about what came next, others just talking with others as means to break the tension.
"I agree, but I don't see any of our classmates," Todoroki noted, as he didn't see anyone familiar among them yet.
"We must be the first ones here then; they better hurry up as they aren't that many spots left," Hagakure replied, worried that they'll take too long. As they walked towards some benches to take a seat, they heard someone familiar and loud not too far from them, drawing their attention to Yoarashi, who seemed to be incredibly invested in whatever he was talking about.
"Seriously? I'm a huge fan of Stampman, I love super passionate heroes like him!" He roared that big smile of his clear on his face without so much as a scratch on him, meaning he most likely passed early one and without much of an issue.
"Uhm…okay." However, Hagakure found it a little funny that where Yoarashi was excited given form, the guy he was talking to sounded both confused and slightly intimidated by him, which she didn't blame him for as she jumped in fright when he had just appeared in their class huddle. She knew he didn't mean it, but he was an intense person, kinda like Kirishima only it seemed that most things made him excited.
Todoroki on the other hand on different thoughts in mind involving the excitable giant, he felt familiar to him before, but he didn't know how, it was only thanks to Aizawa mentioning it that he could maybe place him with him when he took the entrance exam. The only problem with that was that he still wasn't sure if he had seen him. 'If he applied through recommendations, I should have seen him.'
"Shoto, what's up? You know him?" Hagakure asked him, to which he shook his head, keeping his gaze on the other boy.
"No, and that's the weird part. I recall seeing plenty of people during the recommendation exam, such as Honenuki from class 1-B, but not him." He could recall the lipless boy being there, though they hadn't spoken, he did leave an impression with that quirk of his, and he would assume that would be true for Yoarashi but he was drawing a blank.
"Maybe he was in a different group, Yaomomo said that she only saw you in passing that day," Hagakure suggested.
"Maybe…but it still feels off." At that same moment, Yoarashi picked up Todoroki's stare and locked eyes with him, in that moment, all the passion and excitement that was bleeding out of him ceased, replaced with a glare of deep animosity towards Todoroki which caught him off guard. He looked at him as if he had done something to deeply insult his very existence before like a light switch, he went back to his conversation with a very confused fellow examinee, as he hadn't just given Todoroki the John Wick eyes of death.
"Whatever it is, it doesn't seem like he likes you very much. I hope you weren't rude to him." Hagakure pocked him in his side.
"Why do you assume that I'm the guilty party?"
Once more, for someone whose face couldn't be seen, he could pick up how she was unimpressed with his question. "Because it took me forever to get you to warm up, and no, I don't apologise for that pun." She huffed. "It took you near turning me into a popsicle just to give me the time of day to say more the 'I'm fine' or 'That's okay.'" Todoroki had a bad habit of blowing people off without meaning to, his lack of social skills could easily come off as disinterest or straight-up ego-driven annoyance, if you only had a few interactions with him, for as much as she liked him, she wasn't blind to how that could someone a less then favourable opinion of him.
After he had his falling out with Uraraka, it only got worse as while people were slow to approach him before, they were even less so now. It didn't matter that neither ever said why they had a falling out, all that mattered was that Uraraka-the girl that got along with everyone and even impressed Bakugo 'I love giving people nicknames' Katsuki enough that he would use her name…sometimes-decided he wasn't worth the time of day, because of that and his guilt making him even less inclined to interact with the rest of them, he was pretty much closed off from the rest of the class despite her best efforts.
"And that's the 56th person, I don't want you to freak but do keep in mind that your time is running out." Mera made another announcement as Midoriya looked over the field for her classmates, Eri playing with her phone to the side while she worked.
"You've spotted anyone else yet?" Aizawa asked her, having come to rely on her to inform him of any other updates regarding class 1-A, which included telling him how she found Shinso who with the use of a little trickery, managed to catch a couple of people with his quirk, given him the chance to pass without issue, though that was a while ago.
"I've found a few of them, but they seem to be taking cover or on the run, it seems that a few other students still want to pass by taking out a U.A. student." She replied, as she had found Koda, Aoyama, Mina, Mineta and Sero a while ago, two of which were together, the rest were on their own and the run from others.
"Sounds like they're tunnel visioning themselves, it would have made sense in the beginning but now?" Ms Joke commented, shrugging her shoulders as it was no skin off her back that they went about it like that if anything, it gave her students the chance to take them out if they hadn't already passed as thanks to Izuku, she already knew that a few did just that. "They're just wasting their time and lowering their chances to pass."
"For some, the allure of taking out someone from U.A. can prove too great a temptation, it's a fault that they'll find themselves paying for." Aizawa nodded his head, sighing at the foolishness of it all
"Still, there are so many battles happening, with so many quirks being used, I can barely keep up. I just hope that Principal Nezu doesn't want me to have a report on everyone." Izuku looked towards her notebook, which was nearly filled much to the amazement of Aizawa as he wished his students were as eager to learn as she was.
"He said that 5 should do, so you've already completed the minimal requirements," Aizawa told her, though he doubted that the principal would have taken much issue with her considering he could vouch for how insightful she could be, to the extent that he wouldn't be surprised that like Hisashi or Inui, she took up a second job outside heroics such as quirk analysis.
Leaning into her, Ms Joke wrapped an arm around Izuku's shoulders. "And when has U.A. believed in doing the minimum? Come on, Izuku, I bet you can get 10!"
Despite how she couldn't do that unless she memorised stuff inside of writing it down, Izuku couldn't help it as she giggled and went along with it. "Plus Ultra!" She joined in on Ms Joke as the two pumped their firsts up towards the sky, giving Aizawa a chance to see that besides the hair colours being similar, they both also had muscular arms.
'At least she has the spirit.' He turned back to the action before Ms Joke saw him looking as she wouldn't let him forget that she caught him watching her well-defined arms, it wasn't romantic that he could appreciate how much in shape she was-no, it was completely professional and logical for him to notice such things.
With Izuku, her mind wasn't focused on how muscular Ms Joke was from what she could of her body pressed to hers, but instead, her mind was on the action. 'I've never had such an opportunity before, I'm not going to waste it, not when this can help our cause. I've got 11 down, but if I push it, maybe I can get 16, but then I don't have enough paper for that. Oh, I knew I should have brought 2 books!' Oh well, she'll just have to settle for memorising what she could and writing it down as soon as she got back to her apartment.
Trust me, I wanted this to be longer, as my limit is 7k, but I ran into an issue with pacing as everything past this point would extend the chapter past the limit and while I could just cut this just before then, it would be weird, to say the least, as I hate reading chapters which…cut as if it's one of those ancient scrolls or stone tablets where a piece is missing. There was a part about Shinso, but that never made it past the planning stage as I asked myself if that would work as the guy is styling himself off Aizawa, someone who is the only other person who sneakier than is Edgeshot, and he's a loud kind of sneaky seeing how he's both very well known and is in the top 10. With that in mind, and with his quirk, it's more likely he would pass such an exam like this easily, even helping others if he happened upon other classmates but alas, he did not.
