Pre-final exam
The last few weeks have been a great healing experience for Rei. Lately, she's even gained some weight and now has much more overall energy than before. This makes what her son says next a bit disappointing.
"I have exams coming up soon so I might not be able to visit you for a few weeks. Sorry."
"That's okay, Shouto. Exams are important." It will be lonely not seeing her son for a while, but it's for his benefit. And, after years of not seeing him, seeing him for several weeks in a row now is enough happiness to fuel her for at least that long. "Are you prepared for it? Do you know how you're going to be tested?"
"It's half-written and half-practical. The written part is the standard tests that all students have to take. I was ranked fifth in the class in the midterm rankings, so I should be okay there, but I'll look over my notes again. There wasn't much material for the first exam so I didn't have to review much. I'll study a little more this time. If I have trouble with anything, I'll just ask Yaoyorozu. She's the smartest in the class and the best at exams. As for the practical exam, we'll be using our quirks since they're going to test our aptitude as a hero. I'm ready for whatever they want to throw at me even now."
If someone else hears this, they would think he is bragging, but, knowing her son, he is simply stating his honest thoughts. Rei knows firsthand that confidence is very important for the top heroes, but has also seen how confidence without preparation leads to hubris that can have consequences in the future. As long as he sees her as his mother, she has a role to play to set him up for success. "It's great to be confident heading into it," She starts, tentative about not putting too much on her son's mind before his test. "But, make sure to prepare as thoroughly as you can so that you'll have no regrets regardless of the result."
"Thanks, I'll keep your words in mind. I guess I may have been looking down on it when I said that I was ready for it now. There was something else about the exam that I can't remember… ah, Aizawa-sensei mentioned a reward for passing. He said that those who pass will get to go on the training camp in the woods, which got the rest of the class fired up."
She watches him closely to see any emotion that pops up. Even for his mother, at times she needs to pay close attention to read Shouto. Here, it looks like he truly has no emotion about what he just said. "You don't seem very excited about it, though?"
"Well, it actually slipped my mind until he reiterated it to us again last homeroom. It didn't really matter to me since I never planned on not passing." He puts his finger on his chin. "Oh, but if I go, then that means I can't see you… I'd honestly rather stay here than go on the trip."
It warms her heart that he would say that, but she will not let herself become a burden to him. "Don't say that, Shouto. You'll make your mom worry about whether you'll fail on purpose."
"Don't worry. I would never do that." He calmly replies, though Rei wonders why he brought it up if it's the truth.
"This sounds like it can be a good new experience for you." Rei comments, knowing that he's never had overnight trips or sleepovers with friends in the past.
"Yeah, I've never trained in the woods before and never with fire. I'll have to pay extra attention to make sure I don't burn it all down."
Rei laughs at his unintentional joke but stops when a sudden flashback plays in her mind of Touya training secretly in the woods and coming back with worse burns everyday. She shakes her head to clear her mind of that image. 'He's no longer here… Worry about the one right in front of you.'
Shouto doesn't notice as he goes over more of his classmates' antics. "Kaminari seemed worried about not passing, so I did my best to cheer him up."
"What did you say to him?" Rei asks, wondering what kind of motivational approach her son decided to take.
"I told him: 'Haven't you been attending class? How could you possibly fail?' Do you think that was effective?"
"Shouto… I don't think so." She sighs. "When you see someone not doing well, you generally shouldn't say something negative to them. I think a more effective way would be: 'You can do it if you try your hardest!' Something along those lines."
"That was my intention when I said that?"
'He picked arguably the worst way to put that…' Rei presses her temple with her fingers wondering how her son could say something so harsh without malice. "Is it possible to explain in more detail what you meant?"
He takes a moment to pause for thought. "By attending class, he's there when the most important parts are presented. Other than that, it's simply about processing the information from his notes and the textbooks."
"It's very good that you can put it into words. Maybe you can offer to help him where he struggles? Everyone takes things at different speeds."
"That reminds me, Bakugou managed to get third place in the rankings. He said to Kirishima 'I'll tutor you til you're dead.' If I were to put it in my own words, I could say: 'If you fail this, you should give up on being a hero.' How's that?"
"No, you shouldn't say that." Rei shakes her head. "I think this one's worse than the previous one."
Shouto scratches his head. "Sorry, I guess I'm not cut out for this kind of thing."
She decides to take a different approach since this will clearly not be resolved in a day. "Heroes come in all forms. In the future, there may be times where physical might and powerful quirks aren't enough. There could be people that can only be saved by words. You can be a hero without any powers simply by saying the right things to someone. Words are that powerful. But no one is perfect from the start, whether it be words or might. It starts here food you, Shouto."
"I'll do my best to improve my wording in the future." So long as the desire is there, Rei considers this conversation to be a success. "Speaking of Bakugou, he did his usual 'challenge Midoriya' routine, though this time he included me as well. Something about leaving me far behind in the finals?"
"Sounds like you have yourself a rival."
"I think it's stupid, everyone just does the best that they can and the placements are just a ranking of those efforts, nothing more. Plus, he did defeat me in the finals of the Sports Festival, so I'm not even sure why he wants to beat me so badly."
"Based on what you've told me about him, it seems he doesn't consider that as a 'true' victory since you didn't use your fire."
"There is no true win or loss, though. He beat me in an official match. That was the best I was capable of at that time." He blankly stares at Rei and she awkwardly flattens the wrinkles on her pants. She thinks about another topic to bring up. 'Momo's always good.' She's about to start asking when he brings her up first. "Ah, Yaoyorozu offered to help tutor anyone that needs it in her own home. Everyone that's going seems enthusiastic about learning now. I guess that makes her more fit to be a hero than I am."
"Are you going to go?"
"I have my usual routine and I may get a worse score if I try to change things up close to the exam." He taps his foot. "Everyone seems to be changing, perhaps I should follow suit. Maybe next semester I can start gradually altering my routines."
"What do you mean by changing?"
"For example; Yaoyorozu. Ever since the tournament ended, she's seemed… different?"
"What do you mean by different?"
"It's hard to put into words… since I sit next to her, I notice things such as her raising her hand less to answer questions that she knows the answer to."
"She may not have the right answer to those questions."
He shakes his head. "I peek at her notes to double-check my answer after I finish. It doesn't matter when I look, she always selects the right answer. I'm not sure if I'm putting this the right way, but I'm a little worried about her."
"Maybe she's giving the others a chance to learn and participate?"
"It's possible," He ponders for a moment. "I'm probably just overthinking things."
"You may be right." Rei says, though her instincts tell her something is a little off. Still, she can't share that when she has no proof and especially can't give advice about someone she doesn't know.
"I also learned something new about her recently."
"What is it?"
"As she was trying to hash out the specifics of tutoring to the rest, she revealed her interest in tea. I've never seen her with that expression before. It was quite surprising considering her attitude at the start of the semester, but… it wasn't bad. Her smile was pleasant, even. She should do that more."
'Maybe it's just my interpretation, but didn't my son just call her cute in his own way?' Rei stares with wide eyes. "You should tell her what you just told me, Shouto."
"Isn't that a little weird?"
"Trust me, no one can dislike genuine compliments. Especially if they come from you."
He looks apprehensive when he responds with a: "If you say so."
Though Rei would love to stay on this topic, she knows her son is starting to get uncomfortable. "How are your other friends?"
"In addition to Yaoyorozu, Midoriya and Iida also finished with a higher score than me in the midterm. I don't see the rankings changing much around me. I'm not sure I could call him a friend yet, but Bakugou also finished higher than me. It made me even more confused when he challenged me, he beat me in both grades and in the tournament. I think I understand him less than before…"
…
"Goodbye, Shouto." She says her farewell just before hugging him. "And good luck with your exam."
He hugs her back. "Thanks. I'll try to come back with good news."
A/N: Was supposed to be a shorter chapter as a set-up to that moment, but ended up being double the length (and taking double the time) of what I planned lol