Nezu found himself rather excited for this year's exam as he headed back to the surveillance room after a quick bathroom break.
Perhaps it was a bias reason, but Nezu could be quite certain that Izuku's many friends would bring something new to the exam that he normally did not see.
Human behavior was predictable in many ways, and those that did not follow one pattern usually followed another, aside for those in the ten percent of course.
And this year there would be six kids influenced by one of those ten percent applying.
And Nezu was greatly looking forward how said six future students would act during the test.
Mentally he recalled the six and their quirks to consider what kind of plans they could make on their own.
There were the Tokoyami twins, whom Izuku knew the least well as they were friends of a friend and would be the least affected by Izuku, their quirks though were interesting.
Sadi the underdeveloped of the pair either had a shadow-body they could manifest with their quirk, or their body was in fact made of shadow.
Fumikage seemed to be able to speak telepathically with his twin, something that normally classified as a telepathy quirk, but the boy was only able to communicate with his twin in such a way, which was curious but could be explored later.
Awase had a rudimentarily quirk on paper, but Nezu was sure that there was so much more that the boy could do with his ability to fuse both living and non-living matter.
Uraraka was the daughter of the new contractors that Izuku had recommended, and her gravity manipulation would serve her well in many branches of heroics if she was creative enough.
And Shoji? The boy's quirk was such a rare marvel, and he would love for the boy to meet with Amajiki since their quirks would work very well together.
The only one that gave Nezu pause was Izuku's self-described childhood friend Bakugou.
The same son of the fashion power-couple the Bakugous.
A boy that Izuku confessed bullied him severely and physically hurt him in ways that, if they were publicly known, would bar him from entering most schools if Izuku wasn't a two-toes.
It... had not sat well with Nezu and it was only after a very long talk between himself and Izuku that Nezu conceded for Bakugou to apply for their hero course.
If Bakugou failed after honestly taking the test then Izuku said he wouldn't kick up a fuss, but that Nezu couldn't ban Bakugou outright.
Izuku had been very insistent that Bakugou had changed and that the worst of his old behavior was due to miscommunications that he fueled and the toxic atmosphere of their old schools.
Nezu was still hesitant, but Izuku had willingly provided proof of Bakugou's change of behavior and progress reports from his current therapist.
There was one incident, but it was one that was understandable given Bakugou was 'technically' provoked by a classmate that was being aggressive with the Tokoyami twins.
So, while a small part of him wanted to refer Bakugou to another school Nezu would allow Bakugou to take the exam.
Nezu would still keep a very close eye on the boy though, Bakugou could change and perhaps be a good hero in the future but if his I.E.D. caused more problems than Nezu would have to step in.
Izuku ruefully agreed to that as well, since sometimes people just weren't suited for things, and even he had to admit that if Bakugou wasn't as close to his heart he might not fight so hard for him.
Stepping back in the surveillance room Nezu wasn't surprised that a majority of the staff watching were there.
Some weren't given their schedule's needs, but they would be reviewing the footage later today aside from those who requested to sit out.
"Come on Nem, aren't you excited? It's been so long since I've had the kids actually reply to me during the pre-physical." Yamada said leaning on Kayama.
"Oh, I'm very excited this year, having you pay for the first round after the first day of term will be such a nice treat." Kayama teased back with a wink while Yamada squawked in offense.
Nezu tuned out their argument and sat down at his seat, pulling up his messages on his personal tablet, an email from Izuku there and waiting for him to review.
Izuku and his clones, Riya and Mido, must have finished reviewing the essays.
As expected of his friend and he looked over the name and number of the examinee before marking the student with the additional point for the physical exam.
"Ope, the buses are pulling up." Genji commented bringing the general talk hum of quiet conversation came to an end as everyone looked up.
"Maijima start the clock." Ishiyama requested and Maijima clicked on a stopwatch.
The children would have a certain amount of time to 'mingle' before the start of the physical to see if the rare team up would happen, usually because their screen would only separate the examinees based on school or family connections unless a member of staff mentioned otherwise.
It was nice but it was rare to see a pair of true strangers had paired up, Amajiki and Miyake being one of the handful that Nezu had seen in his years at U.A.
And it looks like their second strangers' team up would also be the kind made because of Izuku's influence.
Nezu watched as Uraraka in center B immediately pair off with a boy and start stretching, perhaps talking over a plan.
The other four did not seem to share this drive for various reasons, Shoji's appearance likely making him unapproachable from how the others in his group were reacting to him.
Awase seemed to be more focused on himself, and the Tokoyami twins might be keeping to themselves as well.
Bakugou's choice to stay away from the others was likely for his own mental health but Nezu could understand the boy's reason's.
"Alright, time to open the doors." Kan said before pushing a button.
And then the madness started in earnest, Izuku's friends launched themselves into the fray along with a few others, but much like he expected Izuku's friends were more than creative with their quirks.
Awase moving through the denser areas fusing and un-fusing himself to move in non-traditional ways, dropping on the machines to turn them completely into a statue that the others could destroy for points and seemed to be an expert in moving unseen by the others in his group.
Shoji bulldozing his way through using his quirk to make himself an armored tank with bone like whips ripping through the robots that they passed.
Somehow leaving the buildings and street undamaged in his wake.
The Tokoyami twins darting about with Sadi hitting the buttons on the machines while Fumikage found them.
Bakugou's explosive entrance wasn't a surprise either.
But Uraraka seemed to be using a strategy just like Miyake's, she didn't carry her partner or wrestle the robots, but the two of them seemed to be working together very well and seemed to be making a decent amount of progress for themselves.
The remarks of the others were of course noted and there were plenty of other students that were just as noteworthy, such as a boy that melted into the shadows and a girl destroying the robots with nothing more than her bare hands.
Finally, it came time to introduce the 0-Pointers.
Panic surfed through the screens, but curiously unlike most cases where the students merely ran away from them, a majority of the testing sites had people try to fight the 0-pointers.
Shoji climbing and tearing out the wiring with augmented limbs, and Bakugou facing it head on.
The Tokoyami twins hadn't tried to fight theirs but another student with a metal hardening quirk tried his best to do what Shoji had.
"Hey look what's happening in D, someone's rallied the examinees there to fight together." Kan commented and Nezu watched on as Awase indeed seemed to bring a handful of the kids grouped with him to dismantle the frozen 0-pointer at his battle center.
Oh, that was not expected at all but greatly entertaining to see.
"B's 0-pointer is offline!" Maijima exclaimed and brought all of their attention to Uraraka floating above the 0-pointer.
"She killed it with a rock, a fucking rock." Maijima said, one of his hands coming up to grab at his hair under his helmet.
Genji chuckled and was about to make a comment when Uraraka suddenly dropped, like a puppet with their strings cut.
More than one of his staff gasped though Nezu knew the girl was likely planning to grab onto the broken 0-pointer.
Only for the girl's hand to fail to grip the machine.
"Maijima!" more than a few people yelled and Maijima rushed to try and redirect a robot to intercept the girl's fall.
Uraraka would likely break more than a few bones but that would be much better than the girl breaking her spine or worse her neck.
Nezu felt his own sense of panic raise as his quirk unhelpfully realized that there would be no way that Maijima could save the girl in time.
Then just as Uraraka's body was about to hit the ground her body froze.
For a moment no one could breathe.
Then as Uraraka's partner rushed into the screen over to Uraraka a series of cursing came from everyone watching.
Genji began making a rather creative southern style curse under his breath in Arabic.
"Oh, thank fuck... " Kayama muttered under her breath and covered her face with both hands.
"Can I say for the third time that I'm glad I'm not a homeroom teacher this year?" Kan said to no one in particular.
Nezu allowed their comments to the backburner as he watched Uraraka with her partner search the wreckage for anyone that was harmed.
Uraraka would certainly lose points for the stunt that was pulled but she would regain some for her following actions.
Shoji and Awase also searched the ruined buildings, and they weren't the only ones.
Sure a few in D were still following Awase's lead but there was the dedicated effort of another examinee in A had been following after Bakugou and helping the students there while destroying a few robots on his own.
"Well, this year was quite the surprise." Nezu cheerfully said as Yamada informed the examinees of the end of the exam.
"Yeah, sure was." Genji reluctantly admitted slumping in his chair.
Shuzenji leaving to start making her rounds.
"Definitely going to be interesting when we're making the point markups later." Sano commented.
It most certainly would be.
Just by running the numbers in his head all six of Izuku's friends would be passing the exam with the hefty number of rescue points between all of them, the rest of the thirty would be up in the air but he certainly would have good news for Izuku.
He couldn't wait to tell his friend.
A few hours later, once Izuku had finished his business in the districts he returned to U.A. via one of Kurogiri's portals and stepped into his office with a box of take out from one of the better carnivore-focused restaurants.
Nezu greeted him with a chirp and passed him a cup of tea, Izuku sat next to him on his couch and gave him a nice pat on the head.
"Thanks, I could use a cup." Izuku told him before he started to set out their food.
Nezu chirped concerned.
Izuku sighed slumping on the couch.
"Just feeling the weight, it'll pass." Izuku told him.
Nezu did not need further explanation, there were many things that Izuku had his hand in and that any one of those would be enough to mentality wear them down.
And for as strong as his friend was, he could not be strong all the time.
Nezu, however sad as it was to feel even a fraction of what he was, felt so deeply honored that Izuku trusted him with these moments of vulnerability.
Nezu nuzzled up next to his side and climbed up to give little licks to his cheek, Izuku's hands coming to cradle his body, so he didn't slip.
"Thanks, Nezu." Izuku told him with a soft smile.
"So, how about we forget everything else for a little bit and watch how all my friends did during the exam while pigging out on some dumplings?" Izuku offered somewhat playfully.
"That sounds like a fantastic idea, and your friends did incredibly well." Nezu said with a chirp.
"Though most of the staff lost a few years off their life when your friend Uraraka dropped herself from that high up, tell me has she practiced dropping from over five stories in the air before?" Nezu asked.
Izuku jolted and he looked at him with wide eyes.
"She did what!?" Izuku shouted.
Uraraka, having gotten home from hanging out with her friends post exam and after having supper with her parents checks her phone.
Uraraka, sweat builds on her forehead after seeing three missed calls from Izu-Kun and fifteen unread texts.
Uraraka:... Fuck.