A/N: I just booked my tickets for World Heroes' Mission on opening night! Last movie I saw before the pandemic got underway was Heroes Rising, so it's only right that I return to cinema with our beloved Class 1-A! I can't wait to see it so that I can start incorporating it into this fanon!

Light in the Dark

It took Mina nearly ten minutes to find another group after stumbling around in the dark of the collapsed tunnel and yelling for help. She had been hoping to find Sero and Weiss, but instead she first ran into Ojiro's group, who had also just made it into the part of the tunnel where the train car could be seen, crushed flatter than a pancake in some places, and warped beyond recognition in others. She wasn't sure if that was how it looked when the teachers set up the exercise, or if it was a result of the more recent collapse, but she didn't really care right now. The training dummy could have been right in front of her, and she would have ignored it.

All that mattered was saving Kurai, before he was hurt again.

"Guys!" she panted as she skidded to a stop in front of them, startling the trio a little. "I need help! Kurai…"

"Whoa, slow down," Ojiro said with a grimace as he shifted his weight onto his right leg a little more. "What's happened?"

"The tunnel collapsed on top of him," she answered breathlessly, causing the others to react in horror. "He's using his quirk to hold the rocks up, but he won't last forever! I need help getting him out before it crushes him!"

"We'll help however we can," Hagakure said eagerly. "I'm not sure what our quirks can do for him right now, but we'll think of something."

"Oui, to leave our friend in peril would be terribly uninspired," Aoyama agreed.

"You guys should go on without me," Ojiro said as he shuffled forward. "My leg is worse than I thought, so I'll only slow you down, plus there's no way I could help Hikari."

"We can't leave you alone down here!" Hagakure insisted worriedly.

"Guys…!" Mina said urgently, her heart pounding like a jackhammer.

"Aoyama, you go with Ashido," Ojiro said firmly. "Hagakure and I can wait here for the others to show up and point them your way. We're supposed to try and meet here, anyway."

"Yeah, Aoyama might be able to laser some of the rocks off of Hikari so it's not as heavy!" Hagakure agreed. Seizing her friend's hands, she insisted, "Get going, Ashido. We'll send you help as soon as we can. Right now, go do what you can to save your man."

Mina's cheeks flushed, but she managed to answer, "Thanks, guys." Turning to Aoyama, she added, "Let's go. I made a path through the collapse that should be easy enough for you to get through."

"It won't harm my twinkling again, will it?" the flamboyant student asked as he followed the girl, their phone lights quickly disappearing into the dark and leaving Ojiro and Hagakure alone to wait for the others.

"You think Hikari's gonna be okay?" the invisible girl asked worriedly.

Her companion hesitated for a moment, but he did answer, "If the League couldn't kill him, I doubt a natural disaster could do the job." With a little grin, he added, "Truth is, he's probably too stubborn to die."

"Yeah," Hagakure giggled as she started to sit next to her friend. "You're right." Before she got all the way down, however, a thought occurred to her. "Mind if I look around for the dummy? Since we're already here, and there's not much else we can do…"

"Sure," Ojiro nodded. "I'll keep a lookout for our friends. Just don't get yourself in the same mess as Hikari, okay?"

"You got it, Mashirao."

It didn't take long for Mina and Aoyama to make their way back to where Kurai was stuck with Jiro. He was breathing heavily by this point, but his arms and legs were still holding somewhat steady, much to the pink girl's relief.

"Hey, sweetie," she said as she slid to stop in front of him. "How're you doing?" As she spoke, Jiro got to her feet and greeted Aoyama. She was wearing Kurai's scouter for some reason, but they had more important things to be paying attention to at the moment.

"I am… holding up… just fine," he said through a strained grin, which got Mina to smile a little bit.

"You would make a pun out of this," she sighed as she stepped back to indicate their classmate who had come to assist. "Hopefully we can get you out of there- Aoyama's here to help."

"Good," the boy grunted as his arms began to shake a little harder. "Jiro's been using my scouter to scan for structural weaknesses that we might be able to exploit."

"What can we work with?" the pink girl asked her friend eagerly as she turned toward her.

"Well, it's gonna be tricky no matter which way we do it, because it'll collapse no matter what we do once he gets out," Jiro answered as she took the device off of her ear and held it loosely by her side. "The best plan that we've been able to come up with involves us hitting certain parts of the rubble so that it collapses to the side instead of forward onto him- and us."

"What if we had Schnee here?" Mina questioned. "Ojiro and Hagakure said that they would send her team after us when they come along."

"We don't know how much time that could take," Jiro pointed out. "He might not last long enough for any more help to arrive. We should work with what we have now to get the job done."

"Just… make sure you get it done… right," Kurai breathed. "I don't want to see… you guys get hurt… on account of me… Whew…"

"Yeah, we're getting you out of there," Mina said as she backed up with Aoyama and Jiro. "Kyoka's right, you don't have time to wait for the others."

"Let us make this a dazzling rescue, mon amis!" the Shining Hero-in-training declared as he prepared his quirk.

"Okay, Aoyama, you stand about three steps that way," Jiro said as she aimed her phone light at a spot away from her. "You're gonna shoot at where that big pipe is bent."

"It shall be done!"

"Mina, you stand where I'm at, and you're gonna use your Acid Geyser to melt as much as you can on Hikari's left," she added as she moved toward the wall while plugging her ear jacks into her hand amplifiers.

"What're you gonna do?" Mina asked as she moved to where her friend had been.

"I'm going to punch a hole in the wall over here so that when the debris starts moving through the sludge your acid makes, it'll slide out of the tunnel and into the other railway on the other side of the wall." As she spoke, Jiro placed the amplifiers on the side of the tunnel, her brow furrowing in concentration.

"Wait, won't that cause the other tunnel serious damage?" Kurai grunted. "What about the other trains?"

"The trains wouldn't be running in this area after a disaster like this, and there was nothing in the briefing about there being another vehicle down here," Jiro countered over her shoulder. "We'll cause some property damage, yeah, but I get the feeling that there's already stuff wrecked on the other side- after all, we weren't able to get in here through the other railway."

"That's… a good point."

"We're ready, Kyoka," Mina said as she held her hands out.

"On the count of three, then," the rocker girl said as she braced herself against the wall. "Hikari, the second you feel like the load is lightening, push or blast your way out as best you can."

"Got it."

"All right, then… One… Two… Three!"

There was a series of flashing lights, the sounds of thunder, and the smell of tar and concrete melting that echoed for miles underground.

Those sounds sent a rumble through the tunnel that reached all the way to where Ojiro was waiting for Hagakure, just as Weiss' group made it into the tunnel behind them. "What was that?" Sero asked once the tremors stopped, startling his friend.

"Oh, it's you guys," Ojiro said as he tried to calm his racing heart. "That sounds like it came from where Hikari's group got stuck. Aoyama went to help them, so I hope it means that they got out okay."

"Wait, what?" Shoji asked, alarm in his voice. "What happened to Hikari's group?"

"And where is Hagakure?" Weiss demanded as she looked around the dimly-lit space.

"When the tunnel collapsed on us, Hikari's group got the worst of it," Ojiro said grimly. "He got the girls out of the way, but he's been holding up a ton of debris ever since. Apparently if he just moved, the rubble would collapse on him and the girls. He can't blast all of it either, not without causing serious damage to one of the buildings topside. Aoyama and Ashido were gonna work together to help him out, which I'm guessing is what we just heard."

"And Hagakure?" Sero asked worriedly.

"She's fine, far as I know," Ojiro answered easily. Pointing over his shoulder with his thumb, he explained, "She went into the train to try and find the mannequin. My leg is hurt pretty bad, so I volunteered to stay behind and explain what happened to everyone else once they got here, since I'd just get in the way, otherwise."

"Does anyone know what happened to Blake's team?" Weiss asked as Shoji knelt down to take a look at his friend's injuries.

"Haven't heard from them," Ojiro answered with a grimace as his ankle flared angrily at Shoji's touch. "I honestly thought that they'd be here by now."

"We're coming!" a familiar voice echoed from the dark of the tunnel beside the train wreck. "Koda's unconscious, so Belladonna and I are having to carry him, and there's been some tight fits!"

"Sato!" Sero called as he moved toward the noise. "Hang on, buddy, I'm coming to help!"

"Okay…" Kurai coughed as he lay on the ground in front of the rubble pile that he had been holding up beforehand. "Never doing that again, if I can help it!" The maneuver to get him out from under the rocks and metal had gone off without a hitch, but now that he was allowing the adrenaline to leave his body, the young hero prospect was dead tired. Normally he would be in better shape, even after such a feat of strength and endurance, but his brush with death followed by the consecutive surgeries needed to get him back into fighting shape had taken a lot out of him. Even if he was still incredibly strong by normal standards, he still wasn't quite back to one hundred percent just yet.

"Yeah, no more heart attacks, please," Mina giggled tiredly as she sat next to him while his chest heaved as he tried to recover enough oxygen to soothe his aching muscles. "How are you?"

"Some abrasions on my back and legs, plus a cut on the side of my stomach, but that's already been bandaged," he answered as he closed his eyes and listened to what his body was telling him. "Nothing's broken, prosthetic or otherwise."

"Good to know that your brother's tech holds up under that kind of crazy duress," Jiro chuckled tiredly as Aoyama helped her to stand. "Thanks, dude."

"My pleasure, mademoiselle!" the sparkly hero said happily. "I'm glad to lend my twinkle to brighten the day."

"I owe you a thanks, too," Kurai added, though he neglected to stand up just yet. "I appreciate you coming to my rescue."

"As I said, it was my pleasure!"

"Can you walk okay?" Mina asked her boyfriend.

"Not very well on my own," he admitted. "Will you be able to help me to the spot where everyone else is? Or is it gonna be too tight of a fit?"

"It wasn't as hard getting to the train wreck from here on," the pink girl answered with a negative shake of her head. "Aoyama can help Kyoka, and I'll get you there. That alright with you guys?"

When both of their classmates had agreed to the plan, Mina helped Kurai get up on unsteady legs and begin to hobble further into the tunnel. "If this is part of the test, I'm gonna kill Mister Aizawa," she grunted as she led the way for the group, while Jiro and Kurai held up lights for them to navigate by.

It took them about ten minutes to regroup with the rest of their peers, by which time, Kurai's legs were ready to give out completely. "Sorry," he gasped as Mina was forced to practically drag him through the last part of the rubble. "I've been trying to get back into shape, but-"

"Don't sweat it, dude," she grunted as she helped him lean against some rocks so that they could wait for Jiro and Aoyama to make it through the last of the obstacles. "This is what I'm here for, don't you know? When you can't go any further on your own, it's my job to help you cross the finish line… I promised I would always stay by your side, and that's what I'm gonna do."

"You did?" Kurai panted, causing the girl to blush as she realized that she had spoken the last part out loud. "Sorry, but I must've been out of it when you said that- I assume that it was at the hospital?"

"Well, sorta," she admitted as she scratched her hair. "I did promise that, but it was to your mom… the night before your… dad…" She fell quiet, so Kurai put his hand on hers' while a soft smile creased his features.

"I'm sure that gave her some relief, even now," he said just as Aoyama and Jiro emerged from the rocks. "Thank you, Mina."

"Don't mention it," she answered shyly, still a little embarrassed that she had let her thoughts slip out loud.

"What's happening?" Jiro asked as she stood up straight and dusted herself off.

"Nothing to worry about," Kurai replied. "Just making small talk while I catch my breath."

"Dude, your girlfriend did all the heavy lifting, why are you tired?" Jiro teased him. "Not like the weight of the world is on you."

"No, just a city block," he snorted as he held out his hand for Mina to help him up, which she did. "By the way, in case you forgot, I had to do that cos a certain someone didn't move fast enough to get out of the way."

"No idea what you're talking about," Jiro chuckled as they began to make their way along the train that had been derailed. "You're the one that volunteered to play hero back there."

"That's the name of the game, isn't it?"

"Hikari? Jiro?" Ojiro's voice echoed down the tunnel. "That you guys?"

"No, it's the pizza guy," Kurai called back dryly. "Someone order extra cheese?"

"Nice to see that your sense of humor survived the collapse," Weiss said as she and another figure approached them with lights in hand. "Any serious injuries?"

"Nothing life-threatening," Mina answered for the group. "Aoyama and I are fine, by the way. Just in case anyone cares."

"We're glad to see it," Shoji said as he moved to help with moving Kurai along. "Good news is that we've all managed to gather together again, and Hagakure got the mannequin out of the train wreckage."

"There's bad news coming, isn't there?" Kurai guessed. "There's always bad news in situations like this."

"The bad news is that none of the passages that we came in seem to be a viable means of escape," Shoji confirmed. "We're also not sure if we're getting enough fresh air down here to last very long, especially gathered together as we are."

"We need a way out, and fast," Weiss asserted. "Hikari, I know your scouter device likely isn't reliable with the state of the underground the way that it is, but can you use your ultimate move to see if there's a way to escape without us having to blast our way out?"

"Should be able to, yeah," the exhausted student answered. "Let me sit down for a bit before I try, though. Still trying to recover from holding up a tunnel on my own. Wouldn't want me to cave in from your expectations, would you?" He snickered at his choice of words while the others either rolled their eyes or elected to ignore him.

"No," Weiss said shortly. "Don't you start. I get enough of that from Yang."

"Way to bring down the mood," Kurai retorted with a snarky grin. "It's rude to derail someone's train of thought, don't you know?"

"Ashido, does he come with an 'off' switch?" Weiss asked hopefully.

"Still looking for it, but I'll let you know if I find one," the pink girl answered with a deep sigh. "Just ignore him. He'll run out of them, eventually."

"I dunno, I tend to have a one-track mind once I get started."

"Rrgh…!"

"Nice job on finding the citizen, Hagakure," Blake commented while they were waiting for Kurai and the others to finish making their way to where they were gathered. Several of the others were talking among themselves, having left the two of them to sit with the mannequin in front of the train wreck while they tried to think of a way out of their current predicament.

"It wasn't anything special, really," the invisible girl replied. "Ojiro and Aoyama did all the hard work when the tunnel collapsed. I just wanted to feel useful to the mission, for once."

"What do you mean by that?" the American asked.

"Oh, you know," Hagakure said a little sheepishly. "Out of everyone in our class, I'm not exactly the first one that people look for when they think of somebody inspiring. I came in last during our first practical exam in Mister Aizawa's class, and ever since then, I've kinda stayed in the background. When I'm competing against people like Hikari and Todoroki for the spotlight like everyone else is, I couldn't help but feel like I was kinda out of my depth."

Blake was quiet for a moment before she said, "Actually, I do know what you're talking about."

"Really?"

"Look at my teammates," Blake shrugged. "Our leader is two years younger than the rest of her class, and she's still the top student in our grade in terms of combat and coordination back in the States. There's Weiss, heiress to one of the biggest Hero Support franchises in the world, and she controls a powerful quirk that's been passed down for generations through her family. Then there's Yang, and… Well, she's Yang."

"Hard to miss?" Hagakure giggled, causing Blake to nod quietly. "Hey, you shouldn't sell yourself short, Belladonna. From what Midoriya and the others said when the villains attacked our camp, you were pretty awesome in the fight. You almost captured one of the villains, right?"

"Almost," Blake muttered. "Then that monster showed up- 'Nomu', right?" When Hagakure confirmed the name for her, she continued on to say, "Yeah, that thing came at me, and the creep with the burns and blue fire got away because I let myself get distracted."

"You can't blame yourself for that," her classmate insisted. There was a soft scraping noise, and Blake became aware of a presence that was now sitting right next to her. "Those things are strong enough to give heroes like All Might and Endeavor a run for their money. I don't think any of us could've taken on one of those things."

"Didn't Hikari beat one?" Blake asked.

"No, he was only able to stall it for a couple of minutes until All Might came to rescue us," Hagakure answered. "Actually, it took Todoroki, Bakugo, Kirishima, and Midoriya to hold the line after Hikari went down from overusing his quirk."

"Ah…" Blake still seemed troubled, so Hagakure asked her what was on her mind. To that, the raven-haired student answered, "It's just hard to feel like I'm on the right path when I'm walking on it behind someone like Hikari. From the beginning of his time as a hero course student, it seems like he's always known how to be a great hero. I enrolled in the hero course because I wanted to leave certain things behind me and start my life over on a better path, but sometimes I wonder if I've really changed at all."

"What do you mean?"

"…Without going into details, I grew up in a place where leaving comrades behind in favor of completing an objective was merely seen as collateral," Blake murmured. "Then at Second Amendment, they taught us that you never leave a friend behind, even if that means letting the villains get away, and I couldn't tell which was right or wrong. But Ruby and Hikari have both shown me that a real hero finds a way to save their friends and accomplish their mission, and not compromise one in favor of accomplishing the other. And I don't know if I'll ever be like that."

"Do you need to be?" Hagakure pointed out. "It's cool if you have someone that you wanna be like- like how Midoriya obviously wants to be just like All Might. You just gotta be careful not to lose yourself along the way. I remember when I first decided to become a hero, I wanted to be like the woman on that team from your country- the one with the fire guy, the rock, and the married couple?"

"I know them, yeah," Blake nodded. "What do they have to do with this? Other than the fact that your quirks are almost identical."

"Well, she's like, super smart and gorgeous, and really nice to the people that she rescues," Hagakure gushed. "Given my power, I figured that I could take her spot in this part of the world, so to speak. But this semester at UA has shown me that isn't gonna happen… and I'm learning to be okay with that."

Blake cocked her head at her peer, now being the one to feel confused. "How do you do that?" she inquired.

"Well, I'm not a super-smart scientist, and even if I was as pretty as her, no one would ever be able to tell, cos I can't turn my quirk off." She thought that Hagakure might have shrugged, but she wasn't entirely sure. "And as we've established, we've got classmates way ahead of us in terms of popularity and capability, right? There's no way that I'll ever be Fantastic-level popular when I'm competing, you know? But after seeing the League of Villains in action, it was a big wakeup call about what's really important. What good is it to wanna be like my idol if it's for the wrong reasons?"

"Is there a part to this where it starts to make us feel better?" Blake asked dryly.

"I was getting to that!" Hagakure insisted. "My point is, even if I can only do a little bit in the background, I can learn to be happy with that. I mean, if this mannequin was a real person, then I was able to make it to them and pull them out of the wreck. Even if I was totally useless at helping us get through the collapse, I made the last push to find the citizen. Even though I feel like I'm totally getting left in the dust by a guy who can hold up a collapsed tunnel on his own, I'm learning to be okay with it. I can still be a great hero, I know, but I don't have to keep holding myself up to an ideal that I know I can't reach."

"So you're saying that it's good to have a goal, so long as it's a reasonable one," Blake summarized.

"Pretty much." She thought that Hagakure was smiling as she added, "It's actually a pretty liberating thought, even with all the pressure that's on us, you know?"

Blake was about to make a reply, but just then, they felt the ground start to rumble, ever so slightly. "Speaking of pressure…"

"Uh oh."

"Tell me I'm imagining the ground shaking beneath my feet," Kurai groaned as the air began to echo with the sounds of collapsing rocks again.

"Only if I'm making up the sound of what I imagine to be Mister Cementoss snoring coming from all around us," Mina answered as she looked around them worriedly, even as the rest of the class jogged up to them.

"Why did you imagine that in the first place?"

"Weiss!" Blake called as she and Hagakure arrived with the mannequin slung between them. "What do we do?"

"We need to get out of here before the tunnel collapses, and we need Hikari to find the way for us," the albino girl answered as she drew her rapier and stabbed it into the ground, using her hexes to conjure ice columns that braced up the ceiling, which was starting to shower down dust and pebbles on them. "Those of you with reinforcement-type and strength quirks, help me buy him enough time to scan these tunnels! Everyone else, keep the lights up so we can see!"

"Got it!"

As the rest of the students moved to do as Weiss had ordered, Kurai closed his eyes and focused on his Divine Eye until he was able to see in every direction for hundreds of meters. It took him a few seconds to adjust to the excessive ocular input, and even after he had, he grit his teeth in frustration. "Crap baskets," he growled as he let the power fade away. "I can't see a way out of here! We're underneath a freeway intersection, so if I blast the roof, we'd cause a lot of metropolitan damage!"

"That's not really a concern right now!" Weiss grunted back. "This is all just a fake city! We shouldn't worry about hypothetical repercussions while our lives are actually in danger!"

Kurai knew that she was right, but he still wanted to explore other options before conceding defeat. Although, given how loud the tunnel's collapse was getting, they didn't have long to do anything else. Just as he was about to give in and blow a skylight in the ceiling, another idea struck him.

Looking at Mina, he asked, "If I start blasting the rubble blocking the main part of the tunnel, can you make an acid veil big enough to protect us from flying rubble?"

"I should be able to, yeah," she nodded as she helped him turn to face the way that they had come. She extended her right hand, ready to start shooting acid as soon as he said the word.

In his turn, Kurai raised his left hand and prepared to vent a large blast of energon. "We're tunneling our way out of here!" he called over his shoulder. "Schnee, I'll need you to have gravity hexes at the ready in case any rocks get past Mina's Acid Veil!"

"Don't tell me what to do!"

"You got a better plan?! And before you ask, no, blowing up the highway is not a viable option at this time!"

The white-haired American let out an un-ladylike growl before she waved her rapier like a wand and said, "Ready!"

"Thanks," Kurai said with a tired grin. He squeezed Mina's shoulder as the energy began to gather in his palm, ready to fly at a moment's thought. This is no test… he thought as she shifted into a steadier stance beside him. If I don't do this right, I could lose Mina, and everyone else. Too much has been lost already- no more! I won't lose any of them, not the way that they almost lost me!

Memories seared his mind, unbidden. Singing with Mina on a stage in front of the people that he had come to call his good friends. Fighting her in the Sport's Festival, realizing that he was scared to lose her in any sense of the word. Working alongside her during their internships, saving children from a life of slavery and confronting one of his oldest demons in the process. He remembered fighting to keep her and their friends safe at I-island, and her support of his decision to let Akarui's device alter his quirk. And of course, he could not forget the night that he stared at death, only to return to the despair of a destroyed body and the caring embrace of the girl he loved.

She's such a big part of why I'm here, and I won't let her down, he thought as he sent his power surging throughout his body so that it would exit his hand in a massive blast that could clear out a huge chunk of the debris blocking their way out.

Only, that's not what happened. Instead of creating a large ball of yellow light, Kurai's energy withdrew back into his body, darkening the tunnel around him for less than a second. Right after that, the veins in his body glowed with a strange green light unlike anything that his quirk had ever exhibited before, which then coursed into Mina, and left Kurai as an unconscious mess on the floor, even as the tunnel began to collapse in earnest.

The last thing he heard was Mina screaming his name and the smell of a vicious acid assaulting his nose.

When he came to, his eyes registered afternoon light filtered by a window pane in a familiar room. Wait… he thought groggily as he started to stir on his bed. Did I seriously just have a pre-test anxiety dream?

"Kurai!" Suddenly he found himself being yanked up into a sitting position, followed by a familiar set of arms encircling his back. "You're finally awake!"

"Finally?" he repeated, his mind still fogged up by sleep. "What happened? Did we have a test, or was I just dreaming?" Despite his slow reaction time, he made sure to return Mina's hug- she took it very personally when people didn't hug her back.

"You don't remember?" she asked as she pulled back and sat across from him on his bedding.

"Not really?" he admitted as he rubbed at his eyes. "I feel like I could sleep for a week, but if I wasn't dreaming, then… We were in the subway, and… it was collapsing?"

"You don't remember how we got out?" she prompted him as her dark eyes searched his.

"Nope."

"We were getting ready to tunnel our way out with our quirks, and then you just collapsed after this weird green light came from your body," she told him with a bit of worry. "I was totally freaking out, but the rocks were coming down, and… I was hoping you could tell me what had happened- what I think you must've done to me."

"Huh?" Kurai was now even more confused than before. "What are you talking about?"

"Sweetie, look at this," Mina said as she pulled out her phone and held up a picture for him to inspect. "That's the subway, after I tried to protect you from getting hurt."

Kurai's eyes widened as he beheld an image that took him a few seconds to understand. "That's… You did that?" The picture on her phone showed the tunnel, completely clear of rubble, but looking like a volcano had just vomited a river of lava into the station. "How…?"

"Like I said, I think you did it," she said as she lowered the screen so that they could look at each other again. "That light that knocked you out? I think it went into me. After that, I was spraying so much acid that I could barely control it."

"Wait, are you saying that I… somehow amplified your powers?" Kurai looked down at his metallic arm, but it responded to his command as he willed it, which meant that it was still receiving a supply of Energon like normal.

"I dunno what else it could have been," Mina answered. "After we got out of the tunnel and Recovery Girl had a look at you and the other injured students, I tried to use my quirk to see if it would go crazy again, but it responded like normal."

Kurai stared at his hands in silence for a second before he said, "I'd better call Akarui. If this is a result of his device changing Energon, maybe he'll know what happened. If not, maybe it was something that your quirk did without you meaning to?"

"That's a scary thought," Mina said with a slight shudder. "I was terrified that I was gonna melt you and our friends when it happened."

"Well, we'd better figure it out soon, cos otherwise we're gonna be screwed at the provisional exam," Kurai said as he reached for his phone, which had been placed on his desk, within easy reach. "By the way, how'd we do on the practice test?"

"We passed," Mina chuckled lightly. "Even if just barely."

"Why so close?"

"Mister Aizawa said that relying on a lucky break to get out of a sticky situation is not a viable strategy for real heroes."

"…I hate it when he has a good point."

Deku: A new chakra power?!

Mataras: More like chakra outlet. Remember, he has the same quirk that he's always had, but now he has new ways to vent the power under certain circumstances.

Kai: Such as nearly getting flattened twice in one day?

Mataras: Are you really gonna complain about getting a new move?

Kai: What good is a technique that knocks me out?!

Mataras: You'll get the hang of it, eventually. Hopefully. If there's enough time.

Kai: Are you talking about that countdown again?

Mataras: Yep.

Deku: You still haven't told us what the countdown is, exactly.

Mataras: Nor am I going to. Figure it out on your own if it means so much to you, but otherwise enjoy being held in suspense as you wait for the inevitable.

Kai: I feel like it's coming sooner rather than later, with the way you're talking...

Mataras: Maybe it is, maybe I'm just screwing with you guys. Either way, I'm having fun.

Deku: That seems a little cold...

Kai: Let's just skip to the part where we get to the preview of the next chapter.

Mataras: Wow. Kill all the fun, why don't you?

Kai: Why not? You're planning to kill me.

Mataras: For once, I have no comeback for that. Onto the preview!

Deku: Next time- Competitive Testing

Kai: Provisional license, here we come!

Mataras: Class 1-A, get ready to Go Beyond!

Deku: Plus Ultra!

Next time on Your Hero Academia: Unveiling...

"Who else is psyched for this?" Hagakure asked as she practically bounced on her toes while the rest of her classmates stepped off their bus. "We're gonna be semi-pros after today!" They had all just arrived at one of Japan's testing facilities for aspiring heroes to receive their provisional licenses, and the air was brimming with the anticipation of the gathered students.

"That's assuming we pass," Kurai pointed out, only to receive an elbow from his girlfriend. "What? We can try, but that's not gonna make our dreams come true automatically."

"I keep telling you, optimism doesn't hurt," Mina reminded him. "C'mon, we got this! We're UA students, and we've already got plenty of experience in dealing with villains! Right, Mister Aizawa?"

The teacher eyed them all quietly for a moment before saying, "Ashido isn't wrong, but don't assume that you've got the advantage just yet. Remember, most of the students here will have more education than you, and their quirks are strong. That being said, I still expect you all to pass, regardless of the circumstances. So don't say you'll try- say you will, got it?"

"Yes, sir," Kurai and several of the other students answered.