Guild Master here again, again.

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Gamemastersden and then .com

Izuku was barely able to pull himself out of the rubble with the one objective he was charged with protecting. The suitcase was still intact and sealed shut without too much damage. Behind him, the fighting was still going on while the students who were affected by the earthquake were still trying to find their bearings. Even if he was separated from the others, his heart was in the right place as he felt more excited and motivated than alone and scared.

He was about to set out when he felt something coming up fast behind him. The case was just tucked into his chest before he avoided the student he saw earlier that was associated with Shiketsu High flip out of her dive to attempt a snatch and grab. She landed with the elegance of a gymnast, even in the uneven and unstable rubble.

"It's incredible that you can still smile in this situation…"

Her beauty was something that almost stunned him for a moment. It certainly didn't help that she was clad in a leather jumpsuit that was compressing her curves in all the right ways with her cleavage out in the zipper. Though the fixated stare she had on Izuku was a tad unsettling.

"You're kinda cool."

Seems like there were more characters out to get him still. He squared up and got ready to defend his objective from the mysterious blonde bombshell. Unknown to either of them, someone in that arena had their eye on the fight with both intrigue and worry.

Arena Stands

"Sorry, I'll be right back."

Aizawa and Emi looked over curiously at the sudden departure of the good truck owner. There was an unreadable look on his face as he made his way to the exit after he tossed his empty bottle into the trash. Whatever was on his mind was none of their business, though Ms. Smile did think that there was something there that did feel a little heavy about the way he made his exit.

Ante Room

Shoto had finally wrapped up the necessary amount of points and had to exit the field. Another issue that came with the system of points established for the students was that the stronger of the groups were often the ones ejected first, leaving the weaker behind as more time went on. He had to begrudgingly leave the others behind as his wristband beeped and fell off by itself. He was among the first of his school to enter the room, though he was relieved that nobody was paying him any attention.

There were some empty chairs in the room to seat himself at until more of his classmates finished gathering the right amount of points. While waiting for his friends to return from their objectives, one individual talking rather loudly from across the room met his eyes as he looked at the boy emote with passion. A familiarity that Shoto wasn't able to recognize crossed the face of the Shiketsu student.

"Todoroki-san! Over here! Come! Come!"

Being put on the spot like that by Inasa gave Shoto no choice but to honor the request for his company. When he arrived, he was given a hard pat on the back that made him stumble forward slightly. He coughed a little to try and rid the sudden spasm that caught the air in his lungs. His slight distress was ignored as the boisterous boy laughed as he introduced the other teenager to his conversational hostage.

"This man right here is a dear friend of mine! We met during our application process, but I ended up at a different school! Such is life, am I right?!"

The gears were turning in Todoroki's head. It took a minute to turn to the right memory, but eventually it came to him. This hot blooded youth was one of the contestants that he had been paired up with in the group that was being tested for their UA acceptance test. A test that took place to see if you could even get your foot in the door with the UA application exams.

All he could remember of that day was the congratulations he got from a man who brought Fuyumi along to come pick him up. The rest of the day was the part he remembered as they celebrated with dinner. A vague memory of being yelled at turned into the sudden realization he did in fact talk to Inasa that day. He also remembered why he blocked out the memory.

"He and I are friends through challenges and turmoil! Isn't that right, Todoroki-san?"

What had actually happened was that after they crossed the finish line, Inasa had come up to the boy to pay Shoto a compliment. Shoto was simply being polite while nodding yes at the appropriate moments in their conversation. Apparently the other boy was fond of the memory, so he just did the same here while hoping somebody would save him from this conversation.

Highway Simulation Area

In front of Bakugou and his friends were a number of lumpy figures scattered all over the floor. Another student from another group was being pressed down and balled up while the one doing such macabre things to the student left their wrist last to retrieve their bracelet. When the fleshy lump was fully formed, the bracelet was easily snapped in their hand. His uniform tying him to Shiketsu was their only indicator of his identity.

Kaminari was feeling panicked at the prospect of having to face off against such a hideous fate. Kirishima was at the greatest disadvantage since his combat style was one of a brawler. Behind the trio was their objective; a truck that was marked by their bracelet and which stood out like a sore thumb on the asphalt. The condition to consider the truck destroyed was to permanently disable its ability to move. Some ranged attacks managed to get through, but those were mostly superficial while the truck itself was still fine to drive.

Their opponent was someone who considered quirks to be the way that people should distinguish each other from themselves. That sort of pretentious bullshit was what Katsuki especially hated to hear from other people. Someone near and dear to his heart was a person he knew who suffered hell because of people like him. It was these sorts of assholes who kept talking down to others and to 'know their place' who got his blood boiling the most.

Bakugou was the first to launch an attack with his newest HV Concussion Shot. His opponent hadn't even finished monologuing when the shot hit power was considerably lowered since a normal version of the attack was capable of just killing him instantly. Now on his hands and knees, the Shiketsu student started to feel an enormous amount of nausea and ringing in his skull. He vomited and was struggling to catch his breath right after.

"Jesus, are you trying to kill him?!"

"Relax, it ain't a full powered version. He'll be fine after we're done."

He was the one spouting about how his power made him far superior, now the tables turned and left him as the laughing stock of the situation. Blood filled the veins in his face as he stood back up on his shaky legs to face the now relaxed group of UA students.

"You… You bastards! I have every right to be where I am! All of you are nothing but a bunch of-"

A blue tinted metal disk hit the teenager in the throat. After a few pitiful chokes, the kid was finally knocked out properly. It was Kaminari that the other two turned to with a surprised look in their faces at how brutal their classmate was just now. His response was to sheepishly try and defend his actions.

"... Uh, it- well, it wasn't full power…"

Even still, to make that shot was still impressive in its own right. Also, they were certain they saw that thing bury itself into solid concrete as well. Had the electric quirk user not bothered or simply forgot to turn down the power on his launcher, the Shiketsu student would be choking on his own blood. Or better yet, just take the whole head off of the rest of him.

The other students trapped by the flesh molder were all returning to their original states. Soon, there were over a dozen enemies ready to take on the trio for their objective. Katsuki and Kaminari were about to engage the crowd before Kaminari stopped them and simply hit a button on his launcher that activated it's actual offensive capabilities. There was a bit of crackling right before a wide field of blue electricity began to arc out and stun all the other students who were opposing the UA students.

In no time at all, the crowd of enemies were all lying face down on the road in front of them. Another unexpected development from their classmate. He just shrugged and pressed a button to recover his metal disc via specific magnetic pulses that were strong and accurate enough to just pull the projectile back. It seemed that he really did take into heart how he was contributing to the group with that display of casual dominance in that fight.

His newest weapon in the arsenal that he was lacking. When he approached the development studio, there were a few ideas that went around before he left Mei and her teacher to start building the upgrades. Coming back, however, the device was built with more options than what he thought was possible.

One function that Mei was excited to show was in addition to the lightning rod function. The disks that were built into the device had the additional ability to store spare electricity over a period of time to prevent him from burning out for a large attack. The electricity would then arc outwards like a tesla coil and pump anything conductive in its radius, depending on the amount of power stored into the individual disc. Being able to retrieve the disc without having to actually walk over to it was just gravy.

This new attack was appropriately named the Tesla Mine. Kaminari was really ecstatic that the device was able to do what it was designed to do, though he was trying to play it cool. It was the first time he had the opportunity to look cool and he would be damned if he let it slip through his fingers.

Later

Katsuki and his group regrouped with Izuku's as they were making their way back to the ante room. The others in the group joyfully caught up over what had happened while Izuku said hello to Bakugou. To those without context, the dismissive wave over the shoulder looked to be a bit rude, but to Izuku it meant a lot. His childhood friend was slowly starting to warm back up to him and was even reacting to all his greetings and goodbyes.

"Looks like you made that power your own."

That threw off Izuku quite a bit. Others listening in passing wouldn't assume much based on what Katsuki said. Izuku could tell that Bakugou definitely knew more than he was letting on. By no stretch of the imagination was he an idiot. Quite to the contrary, he was a sharp person despite the occasional temper and bout of anger.

For now, it seemed that Katsuki would keep things under wraps. It made Izuku sort of appreciate the things that his childhood friend did to try and mend their distance, even if there was something that was mostly keeping Katsuki away versus Midoriya. Entering the resting area was a large breath of relief to Izuku and the rest of the UA students who were done with collecting the necessary points.

Mina, Momo, and Kyoka were all eager to give Izuku a welcome that gave angst to Sero and Kaminari. A few other boys in the break room noticed Midoriya was getting attention from the girls and sent bad vibes over to the teen and just hoped that he suffered from a broken arm or something similar.

"Hey, where's Todoroki? I would have thought he would be here by now."

Kirishima was usually the one to notice someone missing out of the same considerate nature that made him easy friends with Bakugou. Momo gave a strained smile as she pointed over to the poor soul still looped into the mad rambling conversation that Inasa had him trapped in. His classmates could tell by just looking that Shoto was absolutely miserable yet too considerate to try and break free from the conversation.

The Shiketsu student was the master of pointless anecdotes and had been talking about nothing for the entire time that Shoto had arrived in the ante room. Todoroki seriously regretted finishing too early and getting looped into such a pointless yet taxing task as this.

Midoriya wanted to try and lend a helping hand, but was stopped short by Mezo. He informed Izuku that the others in the conversation were students who tried to save their friends from the conversation and just ended up trapped as well by the impassioned teenager holding them hostage unintentionally. Shoto was simply a lost cause until the next round.

"Uh, so where's Iida and the others? Are they here yet?"

Those who were already there before the newest arrivals were now expressing their concerns as Iida and a few others were yet to have returned. Only a handful of spots were left and that gap was getting smaller with the momentum now at its peak.

Mountain Simulation Area

Aoyama was yanked out of the way of another explosion that would have easily disqualified him. His class president, Tenya Iida, was doing all he can to protect his classmate and a single objective in the form of a small hard drive on his person. Only one of these smaller objectives existed for each school and were revealed on radar halfway through the exam. Right now, Iida was in fact a giant red dot on everyone's map while he was trying to keep his classmate Aiyama in the exam.

Ever since the camp incident, Aoyama was fixated on finding a way to rescind all of the guilt he embellished upon himself. Seeing the man who swore to save him looking like a demon while helping All Might, having no way to contact the mysterious figure and being forced to wait day after day, and now to simply await whoever would command him first. He was at the end of the rope in simply waiting for his moment of salvation. If his redemption would not come to him, he'll just create his own.

From where he stood, Aoyama launched a beam into the sky that was clearly visible from every part of the stadium. It hurt so badly that he would rather have been sick with dysentery for weeks than endure this hell. He didn't let up from his attempt to help those who needed a light to follow in order to get through their challenges. If this was just the first step, he would pay it forward gladly a hundred times over.

Arena Stands Entrance

Someone who knew of the boy's plight was simply listening in on the current events and knew that the boy truly sought redemption. His efforts would not go unnoticed by those who swore better for the good natured boy. Now it was their responsibility to secure the boy's future. After all, it was often the duty of adults to show the better path until the next generation was ready to move forward.

For now, things would have to move at their intended pace. The pieces on the board were moving as he intended, so to do anything that was detrimental to the original plan was already putting too much in danger.

As much as he wanted to end things now, things were already intended to resolve as they needed to. He was powerless, even in the face of his own plan.

Later

All of UA was able to pass the first phase of the exam. All of them were happily celebrating while Inasa finally became too distracted to maintain the conversation. When he turned back around, nobody was there to listen to him anymore. Shoto rushed back to the group finally free of the torture by the naive Yoarashi and was congratulated by his fellow classmates for finally escaping.

Things were far from over for the remaining hundred contestants that made it to the final phase. To kick things off, the entire training arena was demolished with a sequence of timed explosives. That certainly got everyone's attention and set the precedent for the students. Turns out that the rescue portion of the exam was going to have licensed individuals that have experience in the public sectors of search and rescue. Their grades would be individual to gauge if they were worthy of gaining a provisional license.

While there was still time to mull around before the final one hundred, Sero disclosed to the rest of his class that Izuku encountered the blonde beauty in the leather jumpsuit while she was nude. Both Kaminari and Mineta were giving him the usual bout of useless bullshit over how he had too much luck and that he was hogging all the attention. He simply wanted to tell them to simply consider being better people, but held his tongue and just let these boys have this at the very least.

Finally, the alarm went off and opened the room up to allow the students to start the mock aid relief. There was a bit of a rough start as the students had limited training in these subjects and were all being harshly criticized for their mistakes as to throw the students off of their game. Soon enough, the young heroes in training had finally hit a rhythm and were able to pull the acting victims out at a steady enough pace. Things were starting to look up for the students.

From the walls below the stadium seats, a single hole that was the size of a small house blew wide open and gave passage to the mock villains there to stop the rescue attempt. Inside the newly formed entrance came the selected candidates, Gang orca and several acting combatants in villain costumes. His selection of being the acting villain was a very carefully selected one by the safety commission that had their hands in putting this whole exam together.

Several Weeks Ago

"Don't you think that all of this is a bit excessive? Sicking such a well renowned hero like Gang Orca seems a bit harsh."

The safety board were all seated with each other in voting the decisions that were being proposed. There was a point of contention with how Killer orca got a majority vote in the meeting. Now they were voting in who would have the best qualifications in participating as a villain during the provisional license exams. When his name crossed their table, more than enough people elected the hero.

"His physical profile benefits the role to a T. His abilities also provide him the best chance against larger groups of opponents as well. Despite his appearance, he does have a history in education that does give him the most insight over how to conduct himself in this scenario. What about you, Nakamura-san?"

In a corner of the room was Haru, typing away at his personal computer to complete the necessary work he needed to address while listening in on the meeting. His attendance of the meeting wasn't needed, though he wanted to make sure that the details were being managed well enough.

"Fit him in. Contact Orca and tell him to be ready by the indicated date we give him."

Not a single person attending the meeting objected to the decision. So far the proposal that Haru had given the board members was unanimously accepted in both a voluntary and involuntary measure. There was a basis of logic in how the first section of the exam worked. Being protective of critical key points or targets while finding the thing they needed to eliminate or capture was an all encompassing methodology to fully assess the budding heroes.

Up next on the docket was the discussion of the budget and what would need to be covered to fully bring all of their decisions to life. The issue wasn't the cost itself, but coordinating a spreadsheet to give to Nakamura for his work later. He truly didn't let anything slide under his radar.

Present Time

Shouto was already engaging the wave of villains with an earthquake to throw off their footing. It was far from being a solution, but it was enough to slow down the advancement. That idea was unfortunately shot down immediately with a single attack by Orca. His sound waves produced at the crown of his face were capable of stunning his opponents, even from a distance. Even with the range, he was still fast enough to close the gap between him and Shouto and use his sonic ability at point blank range.

His size and weight had no bearings on his overall speed. The mutation of being part orca gave him all the abilities that orca had in nature. Unknown to a lot of people, orca also use their sonar as a weapon to hunt for prey. Fish that were small enough could actually be stunned by the powerful waves of sound traveling through the water. Gang orca could actually kill someone by blowing them up from the inside underwater.

The group of pseudo-villains were free to advance unimpeded. There was another distraction for Gang Orca in the form of an iceberg that he stopped by swiping at it. Shoto realized that the matchup was bad against his ice quirk. He knew that orca's were naturally acclimated to freezing temperatures, that combined with the enhanced strength made Gang Orca practically immune to any sort of frozen attack.

Just as he was about to switch gears, a powerful gust of wind came over him and Orca out of nowhere. Above them was Inasa as he floated through the use of his air quirk. He approached the fight with the usual amount of confidence he displayed.

"Your time is done, villain! Me and my friend Shoto here will put an end to your dastardly ways!"

Shoto wouldn't have put it exactly like that, though it seemed that Inasa had a bit of a strong impression on their actual relationship. Still, he was a kind enough person so he just kept silent instead of correcting the misunderstanding. Assessing the situation, an idea came to Shoto as to what could be done against the hero who was acting as the villain. He let the wind quirk user know that he had an idea while brandishing a flame in his palm. The other boy caught on quickly enough to know what it was that Todoroki wanted out of the team.

Inasa was the first to strike as he enveloped Gang Orca in a whirlwind. Being trapped in a column of wind wasn't that much of a problem for the experienced hero. That thought was quickly booted out the door when the cyclone caught fire and trapped him in a pillar of hellfire. An impressive display of instant teamwork that the other examiners took note of while the duo kept at it until the exam was over.

It would have been a good idea, had Gang Orca been concerned about the fire in the first place. He simply poured one of his water bottles over his head to help keep his skin moist against the fiery prison, more out of comfort than any practical reason he had. Another sonic wave blew out the fire and wind like it was a candle. The teenagers were then quickly stunned with two sonic attacks launched at each of them.

They both hit the ground while their bodies were trying to figure out what the hell it was that caused so much internal trauma. Neither of them could control their limbs enough to move or get up. Feeling the crushing sensation of defeat after they thought they had it in the bag was quite the humbling feeling.

Others who were done with clearing their area of rubble of disaster victims were swooping in to give their help to the lone defenders, who were both out for the count. Izuku gave it his all as he swept in with a kick to Gang Orca's skull. The hero even had to admit that the kick was rather powerful for a fifteen year old, even with an enhancement type power. Whoever taught this kid to kick knew a thing or two about proper technique.

The final alarm for time sounded off just then. As of right then and there, the exams were officially over.

Later

All the students were crowding in the center of the arena where there was still a big enough clearing for the gathering. Mena had returned to deliver the results at the podium on the stage. The screen behind him revealed the results of the exam and who would go on to receive a provisional license. Some were a bit startled to not see their names up on the board. People like Inasa and Bakugou.

"What is the meaning of this?!"

"What the hell?!"

Their protests were silenced when it was addressed that Katsuki had almost risked several buildings collapsing with his reckless use of explosions. Inasa was no better with how he vacuumed up many civilians despite being told numerous times not to do so in case of risking further injury or loss of life. At the end, even Shoto was excluded for his lack of accumulated points during the rescue attempt. Several times he had nearly risked the lives of possible civilians trapped under buildings with the use of his ice. There was no secondary measure he took to check for possible unresponsive victims and just froze the ground however he wished.

It was Inasa who bowed to the ground like earlier, except with the hat that stopped him from bleeding from his head. Shoto simply took it in stride and just accepted the gesture while also lending his formal apology as well. The defeat after being criticized for their irresponsible usage of powers was even more bitter to remember than before.

"Now then, please follow me as we begin the next event planned for you all."

Nobody knew what was going on as they were all led into the arena bleachers and seated to look out and over to the entire stadium. Mena did reinforce that this was not a grading portion of the exams as he was passing out fliers with their exam results. Looking over the results, many of them were content with their performance while checking what it was they could improve on in the future.

Some of the lower scores were disappointed in themselves for their performance. Basic things they knew to be obvious were forgotten or messed up as they were attempting to rescue the acting disaster villains. Performance anxiety truly was something that could risk a life if they didn't shape up sometime soon.

"Looks like you fell flat on some stuff, didn't you?"

Midoriya was startled a little to see Haru sitting next to him when he didn't even hear him approaching. His mentor took a look over the sheet and just looked over it while Izuku was acting a bit nervous. All that hard work and help he received for the past few weeks was partially Nakamura committing time out of his busy schedule to train the boy in practical martial arts. His sheet was returned with a pat on his head when Izuku took the sheet from Haru.

"Good job, kiddo. I'm proud of you."

For some reason, tears started to fall from Izuku's eyes when he heard the honest praise from Haru. Not only had Haru seemingly forgiven him for his mistake, but was giving Izuku that he would have lacked without a father. He felt validated by the one who had given him so much already. All Might indeed was Izuku's role model and idol for many years of his life. Haru was the one who raised him to be the man he was destined to be, all the while still committing himself to helping Midoriya.

A blue silk handkerchief was given to Izuku to help with his tears. Those who were surprised by the man's appearance were a bit touched by the heartwarming display of fatherly love happening between him and the white haired man. Katsuki could only look upon the scene with nothing but angst in his heart. How it was something he could have had, if he only just…

Nakamura dismissed himself to tell Izuku that he was going to talk to Katsuki after he gave the boy the handkerchief to return later. It was then that Mena was wrapping up the instructions to those who wanted to attend the secondary exam taking place at a later date. If they desired, this would be their way into receiving a provisional license.

"Now then, please turn your attention forward for the demonstration of what a rescue done by professionals looks like."

All of the students were looking down at the rubble below while waiting for the demonstration to start. Instead of seeing people come out of the exits first, there was a sound coming from up above that had the kids looking up at the open sky. As the sound got closer, they started to realize that those sounds were those of helicopters. Up in the air were several helicopters that flew above and hovered in formation while awaiting for the starting signal.

Below, the exit gates opened with what looked to be over a hundred officers in uniforms that everybody there could recognize. The all black wear with gas masks were a telltale sign of who these people were. They were bringing in vehicles and equipment before they all marched into formation and ready to begin. An appropriate candidate to show these youth how it's done.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Emergency Security Department."

The starting signal went off to let these officers do what they do best. Above them, the helicopters lowered ropes that the officers inside took to slide down and into the disaster zones. There was no waste of movement as the students could hear commands being barked with coordination of establishing medical checkpoints at the center of several major areas. In less than a minute, there were medical personnel already attending to the first few patients being hauled in.

Some of the students had to do a double take as they could already see several people being attended to when the students were still struggling to find their first few victims at the time. This was nothing like the hackneyed rescue attempt that was more improvised than anything. There were several officers with built in cameras installed into their helmets to stream video and audio to show the students what it was they did in comparison to the examinees.

"Attention civilians! This is the Emergency Security Department! Remain calm as we assist moving all of you to safety! Remain calm and refrain from struggling to receive our help! We know where you are and we will get you out of there!"

Each vehicle had a PA system that broadcasted the voice of one officer to those in need. Immediately, the major difference between the kids and the ESD was to set up a presence to help the victims to remain calm and in place. This not only helped to reduce panic, but eased those trapped under the rubble from moving around too much. Down at the examination site, the examiners were unable to find anything to critique about the ESD rescue and relief procedures.

One examiner Izuku could recognize as the first civilian he got out of the rubble was approached by an officer. Through the live feed, they could see how the ESD officers interacted with those in need of help. He established a proper line of sight with the child and spoke in a way that would help familiarize himself with the child. Not even the rather obvious look of the short man didn't detract from how professional the officer was acting.

As the examiner acted out his role, the officer then did a quick assessment of the child's condition while simultaneously speaking softly to the boy about mundane things. There was a quick call to the medical tent he was nearby before the officer took the boy to the tent and went right back to retrieving more in need. It was a perfect approach to handling an injured child that Izuku realized required a lot of attention. He felt a bit ashamed about how lacking his performance was in comparison to the officer's.

Another scenario was one with the examinee trapped underneath a leaning slab of concrete that was similar to the one that Momo and Ochaco tackled together. Some of the other students from their class helped out and it was eventually a successful rescue attempt. What the officers did was leagues more effective and delivered results far more quickly than the UA students.

Identifying the damages while keeping the man calm was done by the gathered officers working to remove the immediate threat. Three officers then got to work with one officer installing hydraulic bars to assist in pushing away the largest of the debris. The other two worked to spray reinforcement foam on the outside and pulled out their portable winches. They applied the attachments and connected their respective winches to a stable enough surface.

Inside of the enclosed space, the first officer was still talking to the trapped civilian about things that were light in nature and to further humanize himself to the victim. While keeping the civilian's mind off their predicament, he was spraying the interior walls to reinforce the structure and to prevent it from cracking and causing further damage. There was a warning given to the innocent victim as the walls were now starting to move apart with the help of the portable equipment they brought with them. Once cleared and able to transport the civilian, ESD officers helped the medical team transport the man out of there as they kept on going to the next rescue.

All of that was done in less than a few minutes. A lot of UA students felt like their attempt that took so much longer was seriously lacking in comparison. Civilians were being cleared out by the fistfulls without a break in pacing. The next challenge presented itself in the form of Gang Orca once again. Taking a closer look at the video feed of Orca, Shoto could see that there was something different to the hero that he couldn't quite put his finger on.

Teams of officers available to face the new threat were in formation and had built a defensive line between them and the villains. The highest ranking officer approached the situation with a portable megaphone that folded out to help project his voice.

"This is the Emergency Security Department! Please comply or we will be forced to respond with lethal intent! We will not issue a second warning! This is your first warning!"

There was no response for only half a moment before Gang Orca used his speed to try and fire his sonic wave point blank. To everyone's surprise, it was as if he was suddenly faster all of a sudden in comparison to before. It suddenly came to Todoroki in a moment of recognition of what he felt was different. The armor on his arms were gone, with only the sleeves of his suit now being visible for everyone to see.

Blasting his sonar into the shields of the ESD officers with a single punch, there was some give of the shield he directly hit. Certain that the attack was effective, Gang Orca was caught off guard when several shields were driven into him from both sides with a decent amount of weight behind them.

It wasn't the front of the shields that Orca was hit by; it was the bottom edge of the weighty piece of protective equipment. They didn't just stop at a successful counterattack, there were gunmen aiming their rifles while still being under the effect of Gang Orca's attack. That didn't stop them from unloading on the still dazed hero. Thankfully, the rounds in their guns were just paintball rounds to mark their hits.

Stumbling backwards was the only way he could get away far enough to get his bearings while shielding his face from the rain of paint bullets. Without piercing the skin, he still could feel the stinging pain from being hit with a high velocity projectile. These guys were far more impressive than what he first expected.

When he was invited to the provisional exams, there was also the condition that he also participate against the ESD in a mock demonstration. Since he was a teacher himself, he wanted to see if this new department of public safety was really all that. Needless to say he was more than impressed to see that his attack didn't stop the grunts of the ESD. Professionals that were committed to the cause till the bitter end.

He certainly didn't hold back as he actually did increase the power from when he stunned Shoto at point blank range. What stunned that boy still wasn't enough to stop these officers from carrying out their duty. Orca was about to go in for another attack when a metallic sound that his super hearing was just able to pick up on. The noise came from his feet, and looking down revealed that a grenade of some sort was deployed to where he stood. Before he could even react, it went off.

Orca whales have been known to be killed by man made shockwaves in nature. Things like ordinance tests and detonations for mining purposes have had their adverse effects on pods of orcas miles away. Though it wasn't a proper grenade, the concussion grenade thrown was more than enough damage to his sensitive hearing to get Gang orca stumbling on his feet for a moment. Stars were flying circles in his skull while the ESD closed in and surrounded him.

He was knocked to the ground and forced to wear cuffs behind his back along with leg restraints. Orca was read his rights as the recovering officers were apprehending him. The fight ended rather anticlimactically in comparison to the epic battle that the students had against the same hero.

Words were failing the students who were still looking on in awe. Mena was looking a bit stunned himself for how quickly the fight ended just now. Once all the civilians and villains were brought in, time was called since they ended the exercise before the end bell. The compared times weren't even worth looking at as it was only the ESD's time being shown. So much information went over a few student's heads due to how much of it had been thrown in their direction.

Mena collected himself and told the students that the footage would be sent to their homeroom teachers for them to go over at a later time. A lot of bruised egos left that stadium that day. Watching that display of professional work that was perfectly executed gave the students a humbling revelation that perhaps it was more than just simple heroism that was required to save people.

Later

There was a student known as Camie that Izuku had run into during the exams. Her nude figure was still hard to forget for Izuku and Ochaco. She excused herself from the exams early with the excuse that she was feeling sick enough to want to head home on the trains. A lie that allowed the heavily disguised Himiko Toga to slip out unnoticed by the students and teachers.

She was in an empty back street when the slimy substance that made up her physical change started plopping to the floor in large amounts. Her phone rang with the contact number of someone she didn't know. Answering the phone gave Compress the first opportunity in days to finally check up on Toga.

He grilled the girl as to what it was she was doing for the time she disappeared. The usual childish answer gave Compress some angst, though it seemed as though Toga's disappearance was well warranted after she informed the league member of obtaining Midoriya's blood. When she informed them of the news, there was something that made her drop her smile out of dread.

"Where do you think you're going, Toga?"

Slowly, she turned to the source of the voice to see the last person she wanted to see in this sort of situation. Haru was leaning up against a wall that was just around the corner of a building Toga was passing by. Back on the other end of the phone, Compress was asking what was wrong before Toga simply told him that she would call him back later. There was a look in Haru's eyes that made Toga feel like she weighed the same as solid lead. All she wanted was for this to be a bad dream, even after successfully retrieving Izuku's blood.

Haru could see the girl was squirming under his stare while trying to come up with something to say to him. He sighed and simply approached the girl with what looked like a lunchbox wrapped up in a silk sheet. It was a cute shade of peach pink as well.

"Toga, can you tell me what's going on?"

Her silence was telling enough for Nakamura. Caught between two places, she didn't want to lose Haru over what she thought was a noble cause. Anything but running into him would have been better. Becoming a criminal and being sent to jail would have been better than running into the only person who actually cared about her. It was almost overwhelming her as she couldn't look up at the man who was genuinely concerned for her.

As things were right now, Haru knew that trying to force Toga out of her current place in life would not help the girl. It still was dangerous for the teenage girl, but he had to let her find out if this was something that she truly wished to see through until the end. All he could do was make sure she would still be alive and well enough when she needed his help.

"... Okay. You don't have to tell me… I'm… I'm just worried about you, kiddo."

Bitter didn't even describe how awful this situation felt to the teenage girl. If she told Haru what he already knew, she was certain that this man would just walk away from her forever. Him telling her that she was allowed to keep her secret hurt even more after he expressed his concerns for her well being.

One knee went to the ground as Haru took both of Toga's hands and placed them on the lunch box he made for her. He was now a bit shorter than the girl and had an easier time to look at Toga's averted eyes. To her, the small lunch box felt like it weighed a ton in her hands.

"Did you eat? I just wanted to make sure you're eating enough, okay?"

More things he wanted to remind Toga of just made her feel even worse with every bit of concern Nakamura wanted to address. When the pain in her chest got to be too much, she just embraced the man in front of her whom she loved like a father more than her actual father. Life sometimes felt unfair to her when she thought about how much she wished that this man had been the one to raise her.

Even when faced with the possibility of becoming a criminal, he made her a delicious meal to keep her from going hungry. The disdain and fear she saw in her parents when they looked at her was nonexistent in Haru. Every time he was with her, there was nothing but the love of a parent for their own child.

He was the only one who knew her better than the rest of the clueless rabble. It was him who always accepted her for who she was without asking her to change or accommodate his needs by repressing her true nature. Only he was the one who helped her and protected her from the worst of the negligence that almost consumed her as a person. Keeping her father figure in the dark gave her a feeling of sickness that made her want to break down and sob like an infant after being separated from their parents.

Nakamura could feel her tears wet his jacket while holding onto him for dear life. This was far from how he wanted Toga to grow and learn. As someone who couldn't lead her life, his pain to let Toga walk into the line of fire was barely bearable. Her decisions mattered to him, and he would never take that away from her.

"Oh, kiddo. I want you to know that no matter what, you can always ask me for help. Just promise me this…"

For a moment, he separated them from the hug to raise his pinky to get her to promise in their usual manner.

"Come back to me. No matter how much you think you need to go out to some remote, far off place; come back and let me know if you're okay. I can wait. Just don't make me wait for the rest of my life…"

Tears were starting to leak out in larger amounts as Toga was choking back sobs while giving Haru their signature promise. A sliding of their hands and a fist bump after their pinky promise. He didn't want to leave things with her crying so much, though he remembered he left his handkerchief with Izuku. The next best thing was for him to just use his hands to simply squeegee Toga's face from her tears and snot. They touched foreheads as they spoke of their final peace for now.

"I want you to know that I love you, Toga. No matter what."

"... I-I-I-I love you too…"

With a sad goodbye, Haru walked away with his head hanging a little lower than usual. Usually, he would look back one last time to wave goodbye before he left completely. He couldn't let her see the expression of anguish of having to lie to her and even allowing Toga to continue on the dangerous path set in front of her. Had he said anything, he was fearful that she would simply walk away from him. That was too painful of a reality for the man who watched over Toga like she was his own child.

After walking for a while, Toga found a park where she could stop to eat the meal she received from Haru. Opening it revealed a healthy serving of liver stir fry with rice and veggies. It was still delicious, though the tears did make the meal a little saltier than she would have liked.