"Alright, put your pencils down."

Hitomi stiffened, forcing her hand to release her pink and white striped pencil. she filled in all the questions to the best of her ability, but there was no way to tell if it would be enough.

"The last person in each row, bring the answer sheets to me."

As Momo took Hitomi's, she gave a pat to the pinkette's head, smiling reassuringly.

"Thanks so much for your help!" Mina beamed at Momo.

Kaminari pointed to himself with his thumb, grinning. "I didn't leave anything blank at least!"

"Settle down."

Hitomi let out a full body sigh, concentrating on making each muscle relax. She didn't want to pull anything before the practical exam could even start. Stretching her arms high, she let her chair lean back, dropping her head over the back of it. She gave an upside down smile at Bakugou.

"You accept the invite yet?" She whispered to avoid gaining the attention of their tired teacher.

Bakugou repeatedly pressed the end of his mechanical pencil in irritation. "No. I won't join something that's fucking called Bad Lemon."

"You know we won't stop spamming you until you do."

"I'll block all of you."

"My family's rich, I'll buy more phones."

"I'll get a restraining order."

"I'll… I'll… shoot." Hitomi pouted, letting her chair drop back down.

For a moment so fleeting that she figured she must have imagined it, Hitomi thought she caught a glimpse of an upward tick of his lips.

No, he was probably just sneering at her again.

…

Ectoplasm, Cementoss, Power Loader, Snipe, Present Mic, Mr. Aizawa, Thirteen, and Aunt Nemuri all stood before the class, out in front of the building that was connected to the main entrance to UA's mock city.

The fur on Hitomi's tail stood on end, and she bit her lip at the uneasy feeling. Her gut told her there was bad news coming.

"Now then, let's begin the last test." Mr. Aizawa started. "Remember, it's possible to fail this final. If you wanna go to camp, then don't make any stupid mistakes."

Hitomi flinched. Stupid mistakes… like ripping her paws out of ice.

"Uh, why are all the teachers here?" Jirou was the one to ask.

"I expect many of you have gathered information and believe you have some idea of what you'll be faced with today."

"We're fighting those big ol' metal robots!" Kaminari cheered.

Mina pumped a fist giddily. "Fireworks! S'mores! Here we come, camp!"

"Actually…" a high voice came muffled from Mr. Aizawa's scarf. "This year's tests—" Principal Nezu popped out, perched on the unfazed homeroom teacher's shoulder. "—will be completely different, for various reasons!"

"Principal Nezu!"

Hitomi's eyes were wide, her tail flicking erratically behind her. His smell was so strange. She couldn't figure out what he was, or what exactly his scent could be described as. Weird…

"You're changing things?" Momo's voice was tight with nerves.

"The tests now have a new focus." The principal explained, climbing down Mr. Aizawa's side. "There will be Hero work, of course. But also teamwork and combat between actual people. So what does that mean for you?" He pointed at them with his round paw that had no right to be so intimidating. "You students will be working together in pairs and your opponents will be one of our esteemed UA teachers! Isn't that fabulous?!"

Ah, there it was.

"We're… fighting the teachers?" Ochako fearfully parroted.

"Additionally, your partners and your opponents have already been chosen." Mr. Aizawa told them. "They were determined at my discretion based on various factors, including fighting style, grades, and interpersonal relationships. First, Yaoyorozu and Todoroki are a team…" he smirked, grabbing ahold of his capture weapon. "Against me. Then we have Midoriya paired with Bakugou."

Whoa. Hitomi stared as the two childhood friends turned to each other, equally stunned.

But it only got worse, because—

"And their opponent is—"

Making his usual entrance, their last teacher landed from high in the sky, cracking the ground beneath his feet.

"I am here, to fight!

"We're up against All Might!?"

Well hey, Hitomi was pretty sure that was the first time the two had ever spoken in sync.

"You're going to have to work together, boys, if you want to win."

Midoriya turned to Bakugou, while the blonde returned his anxious look with a vengeful scowl, as if Midoriya had caused this somehow.

"And now, let's announce the teams and teachers they'll be fighting in order!"

"First, Sato and Kirishima versus Cementoss." Mr. Aizawa read off of a list that Hitomi was pretty sure was just there for show. "Then Asui and Tokoyami versus Ectoplasm. Iida and Ojirou versus Power Loader. Like I said, Yaoyorozu and Todoroki against myself. Uraraka and Aoyama versus Thirteen. Kaminari and Ashido versus Principal Nezu. Jirou and Koda versus Present Mic. Saito and Shoji versus Snipe. Sero and Mineta versus Midnight. And finally, Midoriya and Bakugou versus All Might."

Hitomi twirled her hair, frowning tensely at the gas mask wearing teacher she and Shoji were faced against. Why him? She wondered. And why was she with Shoji?

"To complete the exam, you'll have thirty minutes. In order to win, your objective is to put these handcuffs on your teacher." Principal Nezu held up a large pair of yellow rimmed handcuffs. "Or you can win if one of you manages to escape from the combat stage."

She couldn't help herself, and raised a hand. "Um, sir, can a team really win if only one person exits?"

Principal Nezu nodded. "Yes. That's all you need to do to win your match for both you and your partner."

"It's gonna be much different than that combat training y'all went through earlier." Present Mic mimed record scratching, then struck a pose. "After all, you're up against people way better than you!"

He kinda reminded her of Aoyama, actually…

"Better? Really? Wait, aren't you just the announcer?" Jirou pointed out, oblivious to Koda trying to gesture for her to stop.

"Hey, watch your mouth, girl! Have some respect!" Present Mic scolded in offense, amplifying his voice with his Quirk to around the volume it would be if he had a megaphone.

Needless to say, it was loud.

Hitomi flinched, holding her ears tenderly. Ever since the criminal at the jewelry store, anything overly loud left a slight ringing behind.

"Ack— Eraser, what gives!?"

Mr. Aizawa, held up a fist like he was planning to strike the back of the blonde Hero's head again if he kept on shouting.

"Stop yelling. It's too early for this much noise."

"Anyway," Thirteen cleared her throat. "This time, your exam will be very similar to a real battle. As strange as it is, please think of us as Villains."

"Assumin' you come across your enemy." Snipe's voice reverberated within his mask. "If you think you can win against them, then fight. However…"

"In instances where you're outmatched, it would be smarter to run away and find help. Todoroki, Iida, Midoriya, I'm sure the three of you understand." Mr. Aizawa's implication weighed heavily on the three boys.

Iida raised his left hand, staring thoughtfully at it. "I won't make that mistake again. I will pass this test and prove that I'm a Hero!" He closed it into a fist.

"So, we fight to win, or run to win." Midoriya surmised lowly.

All Might went on to explain the thing that made all of this remotely fair, that being, the ultra compressed weights designed for them by Mei Hatsume from the support course. They would add half of their personal body weights divided between their wrists and ankles, slowing them down and eating away at their stamina.

"You think we need a handicap to win against you?"

It took everything in Hitomi's power not to scream "YES!" At Bakugou's clear distaste for the weights' hand in the matches.

"Well, think again."

All Might laughed, the beginning of it almost sounding like a cough (oddly enough) and his smile twisted into more of a smirk.

"This'll be fun."

Oh my God, they're gonna die.

"Let's begin. The teams will take the practical exam in the order you were called. We have a stage prepared for you. Sato, Kirishima, you're up."

"Yes sir!"

"Those waiting their turn to fight can either watch the exams or try to strategize together as a team. It's your choice." Mr. Aizawa turned to follow his fellow teachers inside. "That's all."

There was that word again.

Strategize.

Hitomi's stomach flipped, and she froze to try to keep her breakfast from coming back up. By the time it settled somewhat, she was already the only one left outside. Except for—

"Better?" Shoji spoke through his hand, his eyes showing concern. "You got pale there for a second. If you still need a minute, I can go wait inside."

Hitomi opened and closed her mouth wordlessly, taken aback by his careful handling of her obvious distress. But it just made her stomach cramp up worse, and that was when she identified the feeling.

Ah, guilt.

"I-I'm sorry, Shoji." Her eyes began to sting, and she tried combating the tears by blinking them away. "You got stuck with me, and now we're both gonna lose and it'll be all my faul—"

"Hang on." Shoji cut her off, not unkindly. "Take a deep breath."

Hitomi inhaled shakily.

"Now let it out. And tell me what makes you already think we'll fail."

Hitomi flushed shamefully, ducking her head. "I'm… not smart. I can't strategize like Momo or Midoriya, which is what we'll need to even hope to beat Snipe."

Shoji hummed thoughtfully, putting a normal hand to his masked chin. "Well, during the sports festival, you rolled over on Shiozaki. That was some quick thinking."

"Yeah sure, followed right after by my match with Todoroki. I'm sure you remember how that went."

Instead of getting irritated by her stubborn self deprecation, Shoji kept on calmly. "Saito, how do you get your impressions of people and their intentions?"

"I, uh," Hitomi stammered, at a loss for how to explain it, "it's kinda, like, one part their scent, the other part… intuition?"

"Okay, so if you struggle with preemptively planning, maybe it means you work better under pressure. Try to focus more on the intuition, rather than the strategy."

Hitomi considered it, thinking back on how she had gone into each of her sports festival fights without an inkling of how she would go about beating her opponent, and in the end, won two out of three. Could it really be that simple? Thinking faster on her feet by not thinking at all?

Shoji broke her from her reverie, gesturing toward the building. "Let's go watch the others. Get a bit of an idea of what we're up against."

Hitomi nodded once, feeling less queasy after talking to him. "Okay. And thank you, Shoji, for believing in me. I'll do my best to make sure we win. Oh, and you can call me Hitomi, by the way."

Shoji's eyes squinted, the only evidence that he was smiling beneath his mask. "Then feel free to call me Mezou." He changed his right hand from a mouth, to a regular hand, holding it out to her.

Hitomi cracked a smile, happily taking and shaking it.

…

Any ease Mezou coaxed her into, evaporated shortly after entering the building.

"Sato and Kirishima have been knocked out. Exam over."

"You're kidding." Hitomi looked up to the speaker hanging in the hallway. "Already?"

"Looks like they're not pulling any punches." Mezou grimly observed, then motioned her to follow. "Come on, I think the monitor room is this way."

Stepping inside the dimly lit room, they were greeted with dozens of large screens, showing off different angles of the match currently going on— which was Tsuyu and Tokoyami's.

"I hope the guys are okay." Hitomi fretted, unsure of exactly how hard the teachers would go.

"Nothing major. Just bumps and scratches. And in Sato's case, fatigue." Recovery Girl's creaky and comforting voice answered as she reentered the room from a side-door, that was connected to an infirmary.

"That's good, at least." Ochako sighed. Her and Midoriya being the only other two who were spectating.

Hitomi was half surprised that Bakugou wasn't watching the fights, but the other half figured that whatever room Midoriya was in, Bakugou would be avoiding.

Ectoplasm was already giving them a hard time, surrounding them with what had to be at least twenty clones right out the gate.

But they acted fast, Tokoyami instructing Dark Shadow to throw Tsuyu away to a higher level of the building they were in. She landed and stuck herself on a wall, and sent her tongue shooting out to grab Tokoyami, pulling him out of danger.

"Nice!"

"An escape only the two of them could pull off!" Midoriya marveled.

"That's good communication. They're talking to each other." Recovery Girl pointed out from her chair. "It may not seem like much, but it's important. I don't just mean having a Sidekick or teammate that you know you match well with. Real Heroes need to be able to communicate with anyone."

"You need to learn how to communicate. Your reaction time is impressive, but it won't do you any good if you abandon your teammates and assume they don't need your help. Not everyone can read what you're thinking, so work on how to share your ideas and concerns with others, got it?"

Hitomi pursed her lips.

"Um, so…" Midoriya started meekly. "We were talking about these finals and how each student is supposed to be facing their weaknesses…"

"That's right." Recovery Girl turned back to the screens while confirming his unspoken question.

"Okay, so, what do Tokoyami and Asui have to work on? I'm having trouble seeing how Mr. Ectoplasm's Quirk is a bad match-up against theirs."

"Oh? Well, it's not good… for Tokoyami at least."

"Huh? Why do you say that?" Ochako asked.

"Keep watching, you'll see." Recovery Girl sing-songed in response.

The challenge the two were faced with became more obvious the longer it went on. Tokoyami was weak against close-range attacks, and it was testing his agility and physical skill. While Tsuyu, the all-arounder, was there to make sure the boy kept a level head. But it seemed like their efforts were fruitless, as Ectoplasm made a massive clone that entrapped them both halfway when it made itself corporal.

But in a series of events that Hitomi didn't quite understand, Tsuyu somehow handed off the handcuffs to Dark Shadow, who hid that he had them, and slapped them on one of Ectoplasm's legs when the Hero kicked him.

"Whoa, they legcuffed him!" Ochako gasped.

"Does that count? It counts, right?" Hitomi anxiously badgered Recovery Girl.

The elderly woman smiled, nodding. "Yes, it counts."

"Yes!"

"Team Asui and Tokoyami have passed the final!" The almost monotone announcement sealed the victory.

Iida and Ojirou went up next, and won rather quickly. Working together to get Ojirou through the gate. Hitomi had still been skeptical that only one person exiting would end the fight, so it was relieving to have it confirmed conclusively by their win.

"Team Todoroki and Yaoyorozu. Practical exam. Ready, go!"

Hitomi swallowed dryly, wringing her hands to hide the tremble in them.

Come on, Momo…

On screen, Momo and Todoroki traversed the mock-neighborhood. While Momo was continuously popping out her Russian nesting dolls, Todoroki took the lead.

The conflicted frown on the ravenette's face was obvious, even from the monitoring room.

The two stopped, talking inaudibly, and missed Mr. Aizawa's arrival, only noticing after it was too late.

As Todoroki was getting wrapped up in the Hero's capture weapon, and hoisted up to dangle from a power line, Momo ran away, putting some distance between them.

Hitomi gnawed on her bottom lip. What was she doing? This wasn't working out like her usual plans.

Mr. Aizawa threw down a large amount of caltrops under Todoroki, so he wouldn't be able to recklessly burn away the scarf holding him above. Then Mr. Aizawa administered his eye drops to himself, and took off after Momo.

He caught up quickly, snagging Momo's left arm with the spool of scarf he still had. But Momo slipped out of it by creating a buffer between her arm and the scarf, and as soon as she was free, she changed direction and started running back toward Todoroki's position.

Upon reaching him, she stopped, clearly stuck on saving her teammate or fleeing. And with Mr. Aizawa right on her tail, it was made even harder to decide. That is, until Todoroki shouted something to her, and her expression steeled.

She took a handful of the Russian nesting dolls she had held onto, and threw them into the air. Mr. Aizawa batted away one that got close, busting it open.

And inside, was a flash grenade.

Hitomi pumped her fists. "Yes!"

The timid and uncertain girl at the start of the fight was gone, and in her place, was the brilliant Momo Yaoyorozu that Hitomi knew and loved.

I debated long and hard on who Hitomi was gonna be teamed up with, and against who, because I didn't want it to feel as if I was just like "welp here's an oc who takes Hagakure's place, so lemme just have her have all of Hagakure's scenes!" So at first I was going to completely cast aside her and Shoji's match. But the more I thought about it, the more I grew to like the potential these two have. Shoji is so underrated, and no one ever acknowledges that not only is he crazy smart and a great strategist, but he's also really protective and has this older brother aura to him (despite being the youngest in the class lol), which are both things that Hitomi would greatly admire. Then I was thinking about how supportive he would be of her and her efforts to get smarter, and just how easily he would slip into big bro mode with her and I just— gah, I fell in love with the idea of these two, okay? I'm trying to make their match unique, but I just wanted to clarify why she was paired with him.

I will say, however, (SPOILERS) Hitomi also takes Hagakure's place during the Class 1-A vs Class 1-B and Shinsou arc. But that's because she has to go against a certain someone to further develop a plot point I can't disclose at this time.