The inside of their so-called home base was cold, mostly because of Freezerburn. It was dark, too, so Dark Shadow was of course trying to tell everyone about his dastardly scheme now that it was in its element. Nobody paid any mind to the sentient Quirk, least of all its user. Froppy sat, holding a piece of their hair that had been cut off in the battle tightly in their hands. Tentacole had been bandaged up, the small cuts littering his arms being dealt with quickly upon entrance to the small warehouse. Izuku was tired, but nothing more than the usual. The more time passed, the more he was feeling like the stamina drain from his still undetermined condition was creeping up on him. He felt the fatigue in his bones, but Izuku couldn't give up yet. He still needed to lead his team to victory.

"We're five for five. We need to consider who the biggest threats on their team are," Izuku said, breaking the silence that had only occasionally been filled with Freezerburn's shuddering breath.

"They've lost their leader. You took down Ms. Maker, so they should be scrambling for a plan, right?" Tentacole asked.

"Not really. They have Hypnos on their side, too. He's smarter than he lets people think," Froppy said, letting the hair they'd been holding drop to the floor slowly.

"Are you just saying that because he's your partner?" Freezerburn asked, his voice wavering slightly.

Froppy looked at Freezerburn with an expression that Izuku had never seen on them before; anger. Izuku knew that they had thick skin, and that not a lot got through to their heart, but that comment from Freezerburn seemed to really penetrate through those layers. Froppy didn't say anything, but they didn't need to for the message to be conveyed for Freezerburn to shut up, in essence. Izuku sighed, which all got their attention.

"We can't argue at a time like this. I think Earphone Jack should be our top priority, then Uravity," Izuku interjected.

"Why's that?" Tentacole asked.

"Well, Earphone Jack can hear us coming from wherever. We can't sneak up on her, so we need to rush her as fast as possible. If we can't sneak up on her, we can attack her fast enough that she never alerts her teammates," Izuku explained.

"Alright, what about Uravity?" Freezerburn asked.

"All she needs to do is touch us and we're done. So, we should make sure that never happens. At the USJ, the leader of that League of Villains had a Quirk that allowed him to disintegrate anything he touched with his hands. I used Blackwhip to wrap his hands up so that he couldn't use his power. I think that if I wrap up only two or three of Uravity's fingers on each hand, then it'll render her effectively Quirkless. Then, we take her out," Izuku said.

The others gave Izuku nods of understanding. Looking at them, Izuku wondered what enemies they'd fought during that first battle, and took a closer look at them in order to theorize who they may have fought with. Froppy and Tentacole looked like they'd fought Red Riot, as the only real cutting force in that entire team had been his jagged skin when using his Quirk. Freezerburn didn't have any physical damage to his body, but he was clearly suffering from the early stages of frostbite. He'd likely exerted himself with his ice far too much and now was suffering the downside. Tsukuyomi had been screwed from the start in his fight with Ms. Appear, but she was eliminated now, so with the darkness he was stewing in was going to get Dark Shadow back to normal in no time. As it suddenly got even colder, Izuku focused back on Freezerburn and his condition, grimacing when he saw that the other boy was holding himself to try and get some warmth. He suddenly remembered Froppy's vulnerability to cold, and looked over to see them huddled up and shivering even worse than Freezerburn.

"Freezerburn, why don't you use the other part of your Quirk to heat back up? I'm sure the rest of us could use it as well," Izuku said.

A moment of silence stretched on in the warehouse as Izuku and Freezerburn looked at each other with equally intense looks. Izuku knew why he didn't use his fire. He'd known since the Sports Festival, and the two had clashed about it in training multiple times since. Izuku knew that what he'd said to Freezerburn at Iida's funeral had stuck with him, as he'd left Izuku alone about his supposed connection to All Might and what he'd overheard. But, he still remained adamant that he wouldn't use his fire in Hero work.

Izuku stood and began to walk toward Freezerburn, who'd sat in a corner away from the main group.

"Listen, I'm not saying that you need to get over what's caused you to close off this part of yourself. I know what your past holds, and it's horrible, and I empathize with your struggle. I do. You have a good reason to not use your fire. I'm not telling you that your feelings aren't valid, or that you're in the wrong. I'm saying that it's not as black and white as you think it is. This thing that you're carrying, it's more than most could bear, but you don't have to carry it. Not alone, at least. You've seen how close-knit the class is. We're all family by now, so you have to know that you can open up to people and not get pushed away. You can use your fire in a way that still rejects your father's intent," Izuku said, eventually reaching Freezerburn.

Freezerburn glared up at Izuku.

"How? That's playing right into his hands," he asked, still shaking as the frost clung to him.

"Not necessarily. Your father uses his fire to hurt people, and to control you and your family. His power is fierce, and aggressive. Your fire can be nurturing, protective and freeing. You can use your fire to lift people up and free them from their chains, instead of forming them like he did all those years ago. You think he's given you a burden, but you can turn that into a gift, and pay that gift forward," Izuku said.

"What's your point?" Freezerburn said, turning his head to stare at a spot on the wall.

"My point," Izuku sighed, "is that it's only his power if you let it be. You could take that power for yourself and do something good with it. The only one in the way of that is you . Are you going to sit down and let him win?" he asked.

"Of course not," Freezerburn mumbled.

"Then stand up and use your power to help us win this thing. Also, I'm sure that Froppy would be grateful if you were to sit next to them and warm up, since I'm fairly sure that any more of this will send them into hypothermic shock," Izuku said.

Freezerburn quickly looked over at Froppy to see that what Izuku had said was true. Froppy was still shivering and Tsukuyomi had wrapped his cloak around them for warmth, though it was clear that he was cold as well. Izuku nodded to Tsukuyomi, who nodded back but looked at Freezerburn expectantly.

Seeing this, Freezerburn shakily propped himself up on the wall and managed to stand, with some help from Izuku along the way. He walked over to Froppy, stumbling once as he went, and slid down the wall to sit next to them. It was a few moments before Freezerburn did anything but sit there, shivering next to Froppy. Then, he raised his left hand and closed Froppy's own hand over it. A faint hissing sound filled the silence that had taken over the room, followed by a thin layer of moisture forming on both Froppy and Freezerburn's skin. The frost that had formed on Freezerburn's right side melted away, splashing onto the floor and wall, running down into a puddle around him. Froppy slowly stopped shivering, and after a minute or two of sitting and leaning against Freezerburn's left side, seemingly regained control over their body.

Izuku breathed a sigh of relief, but he was more worried about Freezerburn now. He knew that Hypnos would find out what happened, how Freezerburn had almost given his partner hypothermia, and how he'd react in that situation. He decided to push that thought out of his mind, and focus on the present, where he had an exam to pass. He began to think of ways he could pair the others up with people they would be most likely to beat on the other team.

"So, what's our game plan?" Tsukuyomi asked.

"Just what I was thinking about. I'm thinking of splitting us up with an enemy each. On average, we're stronger in combat than they are, so if we get them alone we can win this. It'll have to be a team effort with Earphone Jack, with all but one distracting her while the other took her down. It's possible for me to be the one that takes Earphone Jack down due to Float, allowing me to drop down from above while you all draw her attention on the ground. Maybe if you make so much noise that she can't hear me coming from above, that would work," Izuku thought out loud.

"If I rode by on an Iceberg, would that be enough?" Freezerburn asked.

"If she's trying her best to listen for sounds coming toward them, then if you ride by that should be enough to overwhelm her and force her to tune out for a bit, allowing me to get the drop on her," Izuku confirmed.

"Great. What about Uravity?" Tentacole asked.

"Well, speaking of Icebergs, if you trap her in one, it should keep her from doing anything. She's not physically strong enough to break out, and her Quirk can't do that for her. Even if she managed to get a hand on the ice, she can cancel its gravity but she can't make it move. It's anchored to the ground where it grows, right?" Izuku said.

"Yes," Freezerburn answered.

"So, an Iceberg that engulfs all but her head should be enough to put her down. But, that won't be enough to take Acid Queen out. She could just melt through the ice. So, we need something that's all but invulnerable to physical attacks," Izuku said, turning to Tsukuyomi.

"Dark Shadow can take her acid attacks," Tsukuyomi said, nodding to Izuku.

"Good. Now, Red Riot is much the same. If we were to try the Iceberg method, he'd break out. So, I think we should try to team up for him," Izuku suggested.

"Who would work together?" Tentacole asked.

"Anyone with Froppy will do. Red Riot is strong and sturdy, but he isn't the fastest among us. So, we use that. The first thing you try should definitely be to sneak up on him, since he doesn't have the best spatial awareness, but my main strategy is for someone and Froppy to get his attention, then for whoever is with Froppy to hold one end of a roll of capture tape while they hold the other. Then, Froppy will use their speed to blitz around Red Riot and wrap him up before he can react," Izuku explained.

A series of nods came from Izuku's teammates.

"I suppose you'll be fighting Hypnos, then?" Froppy asked.

"No. I consider myself to have the most experience fighting his Quirk, but he's too good at goading and getting under peoples' skin for anybody to fight him alone. That's why we're all gonna take him on at once. Before I forget, it works best if all of those other fights are happening at roughly the same time so that none of them can call for backup. I'll be up above, watching for anybody that needs help and intervening where I can," Izuku answered.

"That makes sense. So, I'll distract Earphone Jack by passing by the intersection," Freezerburn said, helping Froppy to stand.

"I'll take her out, and you'll move onto Uravity, encasing her in an Iceberg," Izuku continued.

"While that's happening, Dark Shadow and I will take on Acid Queen," Tsukuyomi said, summoning his Quirk's form.

"Tentacole and I will get Red Riot's attention, and we'll try to take him down quickly and sneakily," Froppy said.

"After everyone else is out, we'll all take on Hypnos," Izuku concluded, smiling to himself.

The five remaining members of Team One shared a moment with each other, preparing themselves for what was to come. It would be a mighty task, but Izuku knew that they could handle it. There was roughly twenty minutes left in the exam, so Izuku thought that they should take roughly half of that time to win. Considering that three of the five fights were supposed to happen concurrently, Izuku was confident that they could get it done.

It had been close to fifteen minutes since they'd left Hypnos and his crew, which meant that it was almost time to meet up with them again and find out who would be winning this fight. Izuku nodded to his teammates to signal that it was time. Everyone gathered what gear they'd taken off when they'd arrived at the warehouse and began to walk out. Izuku stayed with Froppy, who hesitated to leave, and put a hand on their shoulder. Froppy was still cold, though not as cold as before, and was still clearly shaken up by it.

"Are you okay?" Izuku asked.

"I don't know. I … haven't cut my hair since I was three years old. I'll need to, now," Froppy said, taking Izuku by surprise.

He'd seen that their hair had been caught by what he assumed was Red Riot, his jagged skin being sharp enough to cut through flimsy materials. Izuku had no idea how personal it clearly was to Froppy, so he quickly covered up his shock and sighed.

"Well, maybe you can return the favor. You're gonna be fighting him, so go nuts. Also, I've heard that he's not always been Red Riot," Izuku said, smirking as Froppy's eyes grew wide in surprise.

Izuku chuckled to himself and held the door open for Froppy, who walked through it with a thoughtful expression on their face. He joined his team outside, who then began making their way down the street toward the designated battlefield with confidence. There was a period where all five of them could walk together, but soon enough they had to split up. Everyone but Izuku climbed atop a platform of ice that Freezerburn raised off the ground slightly. Izuku laughed quietly as they had to hold onto Freezerburn's body to keep their balance, even though he'd apologized and made the platform as rough as he could've. They rocketed off down the street, and Izuku put his plan into action.

He used Float to rise to the height of the rooftops he'd run along not even an hour earlier. He used Blackwhip, safe in the thought that Freezerburn's Iceberg was covering up any noises of exertion, as well as any noise that Blackwhip made in latching onto metal. Izuku used his Dark Slingshot technique to move all the way around, only getting closer to the battlefield when he was both behind where Earphone Jack would be and sure that Freezerburn was doing his job.

As Izuku came up on a building's edge, he did a somersault and pushed off the railing to give himself height. He didn't put any One for All behind it, due to it creating too much noise to be properly muffled by Freezerburn. Once he gained the altitude he needed, he was able to spot the intersection where the two teams had arranged to fight in, already partially destroyed from the previous skirmish. He was about two hundred meters away, but gliding closer by the second. The wind had caught him strangely, and so was pushing him toward the intersection, and his enemies as a result. It might have been a blessing or a curse, depending on how it panned out for Izuku in the long run.

A few minutes of gliding ever closer to the intersection, and worrying that he was too close and that they'd spotted him, Izuku saw Earphone Jack on a rooftop on the corner of the intersection, obviously there as a scout to spot incoming enemies. As Izuku spotted her, she put her hands over her ears in pain and collapsed to her knees, though he couldn't hear her scream. Izuku took this as the signal, and fired up One for All so that he could use Dark Sniper, wrapping Blackwhips around Earphone Jack's body from a distance and reeling it in slowly enough that it didn't pull her off the building but fast enough that it pulled Izuku toward her. As he got closer to her, Izuku saw the recognition in her eyes as the green lightning coursing around him was reflected.

"The—" she tried, but could get any one word out before she was laid out by a punch to the temple from Izuku.

The two of them dropped to the concrete floor of the rooftop. Earphone Jack laid still, not reacting when he poked her arm. Izuku wrapped capture tape around her wrists and officially captured her, seeing her begin to get carted away by a moving piece of the floor. Izuku rushed over to the railing and looked over it at the intersection before him. The first thing he saw was a massive Iceberg from Freezerburn swallow Uravity whole and pin her against a building, a trap that she couldn't escape from. It seemed that as an extra precaution, Freezerburn approached her and encased just one finger on each of her hands in a block of ice. Izuku smiled, knowing that the first two parts of the plan had been accomplished.

It was then that the clump of Izuku's teammates split up. Tsukuyomi and Dark Shadow immediately rushed Acid Queen, making her yelp in surprise. She began to slide around on a trail of her acid, moving faster than Tsukuyomi could and managing to get behind him. Dark Shadow saw this and rebounded through the tether it had to Tsukuyomi's body, sinking through his chest and coming out the other side to headbutt Acid Queen, though she proved just a bit too fast to hit. Izuku knew that she was athletic, and that she was a very active person even outside of school, but this was amazing. He needed to ask her how she got her body to bend like that.

Tsukuyomi and Dark Shadow went on the offensive again, and Izuku shifted his focus over to Froppy and Tentacole, who were circling around Red Riot. Tentacole seemed to rush in for an attack, his six arms all winding up for one devastating punch. Red Riot laughed in Tentacole's face, using his Quirk to reinforce his body to tank the hit. The two clashed, Tentacole's six hands being caught in two of Red Riot's Hardened hands. The two paused like that, wrestling each other for dominance, before Tentacole dragged his own hands down, forcing Red Riot's hands together.

The instant this happened, Froppy leapt up and crouched down on Red Riot's shoulders, Tentacole then raising Red Riot's hands for ease of access. Froppy then tied their enemy's hands together with capture tape, the shock making Red Riot's Quirk turn off and leave Tentacole free to land six solid hits on the redheaded rock's face at once, eliminating Red Riot.

Izuku silently cheered for the two of them and refocused on Freezerburn, who was standing across the intersection from Hypnos. He was facing Hypnos, staring at him from across the area, but not moving or saying a thing. That was good, that was how their team won. There was only one more person to go, and then the five of them could charge Hypnos at once and take him out as easy as that. That wasn't what was happening, though. Hypnos was gesturing as though he was speaking, and Izuku tuned into his comms to hear exactly what kind of stuff he was saying to Freezerburn.

"What's it like being the number one's son, huh? Oh, wait. Sorry, I got you mixed up with some other guy," Hypnos said, smugly chuckling at Freezerburn as he frowned in thought. "Hey, what do you think when you suddenly smell toast? Do you think you're having a stroke, or is it just that Dad's home?" he continued.

He knew what Hypnos was trying to do to Freezerburn, but Izuku didn't want to reveal himself too early. To make sure that he didn't accidentally do that, Izuku turned his focus to the fight between Tsukuyomi and Acid Queen, which was going horribly. He'd looked over just in time to see Acid Queen use Dark Shadow's outstretched arm as a springboard and leap over Tsukuyomi, hurling acid into his face as she went. The attack had landed, spraying the almost clear liquid all over Tsukuyomi's face, including his eyes. Tsukuyomi screamed, wiping his face and stumbling back blindly, but that just made the acid stick to his hands, which burned him more.

Everyone, even Acid Queen, stared at Tsukuyomi as he screamed. Dark Shadow tried to help him, but Izuku didn't think that Tsukuyomi was lucid with the amount of pain he must have been in to scream like that. It was haunting, almost like Shigaraki's laughter and All for One's face, or lack thereof, the times he'd encountered them. It was like listening to the world's worst music, and Izuku was frozen in shock. Freezerburn was seemingly the only person able to move in that moment, rushing up to meet Tsukuyomi, holding a hand that had frosted over above his face. Izuku had read that, when cooled, acids worked less efficiently, so he hoped that was true. It seemed that Tsukuyomi passed out from the pain, but by Freezerburn's relieved face, it seemed that the acid had stopped eating away at him soon enough.

When the ground underneath Tsukuyomi began to rumble, Freezerburn stepped away. The ground shifted and carried Tsukuyomi away, notably faster than the other times it had happened. Izuku had seen the flaw in telling a bunch of kids to go all out with their Quirks at each other, especially for someone such as Acid Queen, who could melt through solid steel. It was one of those things that Izuku was realizing was truly flawed with the way UA was allowed to operate.

The Sports Festival was inherently dangerous, sending students out on internships when a Hero Killer was on the loose was an objectively bad call, and allowing this kind of thing to happen wasn't great either. Izuku was slowly starting to think about it more and more, but he didn't want to admit it. He didn't want to think it consciously, because it went against everything he'd ever believed; about both himself and the society he lived in. But, it was getting harder to deny himself that thought. It was getting harder to deny that allowing people to choose this life when they're children was wrong, and immoral at best. It was allowing children to choose an early grave at worst.

Oboro Shirakumo was a perfect example; he was killed at seventeen, but was lauded as a true hero because he died for a class of schoolchildren. Aizawa had said it, over and over again, but Izuku was only now starting to take it to heart. Being a Hero was almost always worth it for society as a whole, but on an individual level, it almost never was. It did things like convince children that they were only worth suffering in someone else's place, as Izuku had believed from the age of four. It made people think that it was okay to just sit and watch when someone was dying in front of them, because a Hero would come, eventually. It was toxic, and it needed to stop. Izuku was realizing that now, and he couldn't stop, no matter how hard he tried to block those thoughts out. Izuku only realized that people were yelling when his own name was called.

Everyone one the ground was looking up at him. Izuku blinked away his deeper thoughts and focused on helping however he could. He leapt off the roof and landed safely with the help of Float, sticking the landing in front of Acid Queen. He looked her in the eyes, seeing his own green lightning starting to fade away in the black sclerae. Izuku could see that she was torn up about this, her hands shaking and tears openly streaming down her face. It had been an accident. Acid Queen had likely expected Tsukuyomi to dodge, or block the hit with Dark Shadow without realizing that she'd used it to launch herself over him. Izuku tried his best to give her a smile, and hoped that she appreciated it.

"It was an acc—" she began, but her voice broke and she went back to being silent.

"I know. You don't have to say it. We all know you're not the type to take that kinda shot if you'd known what it meant. I think—" Izuku said, but was cut off at the last second by a jet of fire that washed over Acid Queen and pushed her into a destroyed car, hitting her head on the metal and knocking her out cold.

Izuku looked over to Freezerburn and scowled. He walked over to the other boy, ripping off his cowl and rebreather in order to let Freezerburn know that he'd messed up. Izuku felt like screaming, because he was about to suggest that they end the exam there, because everyone had clearly been put off by the most recent elimination, but of course Freezerburn had to go and blast Acid Queen into unconsciousness .

"What are you doing?" Izuku yelled.

"She was open. What did you want me to do, let her burn you, too?" Freezerburn replied, as if it were perfectly logical.

"She was gonna give up! She was heartbroken! Did you even see her?" Izuku said, stopping as he reached Freezerburn's taller, yet crouched form.

"No, and I didn't need to. Now, we can deal with Hypnos," Freezerburn said.

Izuku was at a loss for words. He really didn't know what to say to something like that. On one hand, he could see where Freezerburn was coming from, but it was something Izuku would never do himself. It was just such a shock to his system to see Acid Queen—no, Ashido. He was done with the codenames. To see Ashido get wrecked like that, by a teammate no less, was such a shock to his system that Izuku was still kind of frazzled, and wasn't thinking clearly.

"Playing with people weaker than you and then annihilating them when you get the chance! I guess you really are your father's son, huh?" Shinso shouted from across the space.

Izuku looked over at Shinso, seeing a wild look in his eyes that he didn't fully recognize. He was about to ask Shinso what the hell he thought he was doing, but was spoken over by Todoroki screaming back at his enemy.

"I'm nothing like my father!" Todoroki screamed, before going limp.

That wasn't good.

"Freeze everything!" Shinso commanded, already hooking his binding cloth on a fire escape and pulling himself up.

Shit.

Izuku looked over to see Todoroki pointing his hand down toward the ground, in the exact midpoint between his feet. Frost started growing over his skin, and the air around the two grew cold. Izuku fired up One for All and immediately leapt as high as he could, which was all the way up to the roof with Float added in. As he soared into the air, Izuku felt the cold following him, chasing him, until he got to the roof, where it stopped and he felt the warm air greet him, though the roof was still considerably colder than before. He tried to land smoothly, but his foot hooked on one of the rails and he spun out at the very end, landing on his butt as he managed to escape Todoroki's attack.

He looked around the roof to see Shinso climbing over the railings, clearly having just escaped the blast. Izuku also noticed that there were now shards of ice that sprawled into the sky, growing outward in what looked like a circle around Todoroki himself. It seemed that the precise aim toward the middle was what had allowed that to happen, as if Todoroki had just turned on that level of power, it would all have gone to the right. Shinso knew what he was doing. Reminding himself of Shinso, Izuku snapped his attention over to his friend and gave him the most exasperated look he could.

"What the hell?!" Izuku screamed.

"Hey, this is still an exam! I'm not failing. I'll do whatever it takes, you know that," Shinso said, leavin his Persona Chords hanging off his neck.

"I get that, but do you have to undermine my point to do it? I was trying to de-escalate, and you go and freeze the whole city block!" Izuku said, gesturing to the massive iceberg that was dangerously close to swallowing them, too.

"Tokoyami will be fine! Recovery Girl probably sent him home already," Shinso said, waving his hand dismissively.

"I know that! I was worried about Ashido. She was clearly not handling that whole thing well. I was trying to protect Tsu in all that as well, you know," Izuku said, taking a step back from Shinso and taking a few calming breaths.

"What about Tsu?" Shinso asked, suddenly worried.

"Do you know how frogs react to cold?" Izuku asked back, looking at Shinso with a neutral expression that he hoped made him feel bad.

Shinso's eyes widened, but before either of them could do anything, a loud hissing sound alerted them to the fact that the iceberg was melting. It slowly began to sag into itself, before the strain couldn't be taken anymore and it simply shattered apart, falling pieces around the people it had enveloped, which was everyone but the two on the roof. They watched as Todoroki breathed heavily in the middle of it, struggling to stay upright. Tsu and Shoji were laying on the ground, Shoji cradling Tsu's unconscious body with his own, as heat slowly soaked into their bodies again. Shinso wasted no time in leaping off the roof and swinging down to Tsu, not even bothering to apologize to Todoroki as he ran past.

Izuku stayed on the rooftop, leaning against the railing, as he heard the horn that announced the end of the exam period. It felt like it had been a whole school day since the exam started, but it had been one single hour. Izuku felt ready to just bury himself, but he needed to stay awake so that he could see how everyone else was doing. He needed to be there for them, because he had legitimately hurt Yaoyorozu. He was sure he'd done something to her arm, and he was worried about head trauma with that toss. He needed to see that Bakugo had woken up, otherwise that same image of him closing his eyes and falling out of the sky would never leave his mind. He needed to explain things to Kaminari, who he'd told not to worry and then absolutely destroyed. Izuku needed to be there for his class, so he was determined to stay awake.

The faint smell of coffee alerted Izuku to the fact that Aizawa had arrived behind him. He didn't want to look at Aizawa, because he knew that he'd done terrible things to his classmates for the sake of the exam, and if he talked about those things, that made it real. Izuku had thought he'd finally gotten through the Todoroki, but he guessed that he hadn't made as much of an impact as he'd hoped. So much for his own power, fire that he could use to nurture; Todoroki had used his power to instantly take out a classmate going through a terrifying crisis. It was all so much more vivid that he hadn't really done anything good this whole time now that the clock had run out. He'd just hurt and confused his friends, the only friends he'd ever had.

"Exam's over, Ne—" Aizawa tried.

"How is everyone?" Izuku said, trying to hold back the tears that begged to flow.

"They're fine. They're all holed up in the infirmary and want you to join them as soon as you can," Aizawa answered.

Izuku turned around to look at Aizawa, seeing that the man looked about ten years older than he normally did. Izuku wondered if Aizawa had seen Tokoyami, or if he'd spoken with Yaoyorozu, or been to see Bakugo. All those questions were on the tip of Izuku's tongue, but he couldn't ask them. They just wouldn't come out of his mouth; he couldn't manage to open his mouth. Izuku ended up asking the question with his eyes. Why?

"Apparently, some of your mid-fight analysis leaked out and they want notes ," Aizawa said, smirking slightly.

Maybe he hadn't hurt them as much as he'd thought. Maybe Izuku has just been in his head again, which he'd been caught on just before the exam had started, too. It gave Izuku just the tiniest bit of positive thinking in the aftermath of the disaster that the second half of the exam had been. Aizawa seemed to think it, too, as he was looking out over the scene of Shinso holding Tsu close, Shoji helping Ashido up and Todoroki staring at the floor in contemplative silence.

The two stayed like that for several minutes, before Izuku decided that he had to talk to his classmates, no matter the outcome.