Here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy it :)
Neo Infinity - Thanks so much, I'm glad you liked it. The omake was just something I made up using harem clichés from different anime. I was actually inspired by a scene from 'Kagura-sama: Love Is War' manga which involved making fun of different harem tropes. Thanks for reading.
Lelouch of Zero - Thank you. I based Akari on the official book series who was a very sweet, but a bit of an airhead. She was only refer to as Momo's mum in the series so I had to make up the name as well. I'm glad you liked the omake. According to the fanart online I found online (for research purposes), they were pretty much the boy's original design but with boobs. Thanks for reading and I hope you like the next chapter.
wellingtonlucas282 - No problem, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
xros-xros - Thank you so much, I hope you like the next chapter just as much.
Jobro89 - Thank you, I'm glad you liked it.
Guest - I quite agree -sigh-
Devil Dragon Stand Knight - That seems a little too...aggressive and unnecessary.
Akashi1412 - Look, I don't know what to say. You posted multiple reviews that pretty much say the same thing, so I'm going to say this only once: if you don't like it, then you don't have to read it. I'm not going to force you at all. That's the beauty of fanfiction, you have plenty of other works that you can enjoy. What benefit do either of us get by you repeating yourself about how you don't like how I've written my OC. Lewis was a nervous wreck at the beginning of the story, but guess what? People can change. I would much prefer you, as the reader, to read another story then to waste your time reading mine. I'm sorry, you feel this way, but there's nothing I can do to change the story at this moment in time and I really don't want to re-write it all. I hope you find something you'll enjoy and thank you for giving my story a chance.
Blaze1992 - I think we're all glad about the lack of food poisoning and I'm fairly sure that Lewis will probably have a heart attack if that happened in his life. Originally, when Lewis wakes up, I was going to have female version of him come in to the room and claim that she was his younger sister before he woke up from that dream, but I think I've punished him enough. Thanks for reading.
OK3Y - Chapter 31 is already up and by the time I've published this chapter I will be working on chapter 32. Thank you.
Makimass - That's a shame, I'm sorry to disappoint. You really don't have to keep reading if you don't want to, but thank you anyway for trying nevertheless.
Thank you all for reviewing :)
Chapter 27: Exams
U.A Shuttle Bus Terminal
After the teams have been picked, the students were being allocated to a shuttlebus. They were being separated to go to different exercise grounds located across the campus. Cheshire, Earphone Jack and their opponent Present Mic were heading off the Ground Omega or the Forest Area. Luckily, they had already been there when they were training with the Isamu students, so Cheshire knew the area pretty well and teleporting around won't be an issue. However, he can't be too confident that they were going to win, after all there was a reason why they are paired together against the loud hero.
Cheshire was waiting along with his partner for the shuttlebus to be ready when he noticed Elduris' and Creatie's group waiting for the next shuttlebus. He mainly focused on the black-haired girl who seemed to be fidgeting anxiously, glancing from down at her feet to Aizawa who was leaning on the shuttlebus in boredom. Earphone Jack must have noticed him looking away, because she glanced over at her as well.
"Damn, she must be nervous," she said, "I can hear her recite prime numbers under her breath. She did the same thing before her match at the Sports Festival."
"Must be her way of calming down," Cheshire mused, "I can see why those two are paired against Aizawa. They tend to depend too much on their quirks."
He was thinking about going over to her when Elduris spotted him looking their way. She looked from him to Creatie before turning back to him with a look that said 'I'll handle this'. Cheshire was briefly surprised and then he was immediately proud. Before the Sports Festival, she would have probably ignored her, but now she's taking care of others.
"What about us? Why are we going against Present Mic?"
Cheshire snapped out of his thoughts at Earphone Jack's questions, "Well, I know that his quirk is Voice. He can increase the volume of his voice which can create shockwaves."
"Right, I saw him use one of his sonic screams during the USJ incident," Earphone Jack before she groaned in despair, "Which means I won't be of any use. I doubt I can match his volume," she muttered before she smirked and gave his shoulder a friendly punch, "Looks like I'm depending on you to take him out before he does anything."
Cheshire gave an awkward smile, "Thanks, but something tells me it won't be that easy. Who knows, maybe Present Mic has a secret devious side that we're not aware of."
"Damn!" they jumped at the loud shout and turned to see their English teacher with a pudding cup in one hand and a spoon in the other, "I totally got pudding on my costume again!" he cried dramatically, looking down at his slightly stained leather jacket, "Does anybody got a tissue or somethin'!?"
"Why are you eating!? You're supposed to be on duty!" Aizawa angrily shouted at him from the shuttlebus.
"You want me to go into the exam with a dry throat! You've got your eye drops and I've got my pudding cups!"
Cheshire and Earphone Jack sweat dropped as they stared at their teacher, using his sleeve to wipe off the stain.
"Secret devious side, huh?" she questioned.
"It could be a...very secret devious side."
Ground Omega
The hero and the two students stepped in through the gate of Ground Omega and onto the grass covered ground. It seemed like there wasn't much different about it, except that there was an arch above the gate which had a picture of Principal Nezu with a speech bubble reading 'You can do it!'. Present Mic looked around the area and grimaced at the sight of the forest and didn't walk any further towards it.
"Why did I have to get Ground Omega," he muttered before he smirked and twiddled his moustache, "Alright kids! In order to pass, you either stop me groovin' over here or run away through this gate!" he said pointing at it with his thumb, "You two have got ten minutes to prepare before I'm coming for you! ARE YOU READY TO ROCK!"
"Can you stop shouting, we're only a few feet away" Earphone Jack sighed.
"I said, ARE YOU READY TO ROCK!" he repeated.
The two students shared a look before simultaneously answering, "We're ready to rock."
"Coolio! Then head on out there!" he said, pointing dramatically at the forest.
Cheshire and Earphone Jack began their trek into the forest, going deeper and deeper and eventually losing sight of the hero through the trees. They figured out that Present Mic would be the most strategically positioned by the gate so he can just his quirk on the forest right in front of him. They spent the majority of the time looking for natural earth banks or hills to use as defences, but they couldn't find any that was near the gate nor could they make one in time. Their choices were limited as it became abundantly clear that Earphone Jack's prediction was coming true: it will heavily depend on Cheshire.
"So," she sighed as she leaned against a tree, "either you can use your quirk to appear behind Mic and escape through the gate or you can take him down and tie him up."
Cheshire shook his head as he sat on nearby log, "I'm not fond of either way to be honest. If I run I leave you behind, but if I take him down, he'll still have access to his quirk. I don't have anything that would close his mouth and even if I did it wouldn't be strong enough to hold back his sonic power."
"What if you put me in your hat and we'll escape that way?"
"Then you won't be properly evaluated if I just got you out. You'll just fail the exam."
"Is that a bad thing? As long as one of us passes."
Cheshire gave her a firm look, "You're going to pass, Jiro. You've worked way too hard not to."
Earphone Jack gave him a slightly surprised look before she shyly looked down on the ground, "Right...well, I guess..."
A klaxon sounded across the grounds, making them jump to their feet and turn towards the direction of the gate. Earphone Jack extended her ear lobes to her sides while Cheshire frowned in anticipation.
Escape Gate
Present Mic, who had been casually leaning against the wall for the past ten minutes while scouting the ground for any insects, perked up at the sound of the klaxon and pushed himself off the wall. He stepped in between the gate post, so his heels were just in the grounds, and grinned in amusement. He adjusted some dials on his neck amplifier and took a deep breath.
"All right, time to show those kids what real power is," he said to himself before he opened his mouth and let out an ear-shattering wail.
"Sounds like time's up," she Earphone Jack muttered, "And we haven't figured out a plan."
"Our best bet is to get-"
Suddenly, before he could say anything, they felt the ground beneath them shake and dust kick up right in front of them. Over the trees, golden waves of sound shattered the peaceful atmosphere aimed directly at them. Cheshire acted on instinct and leapt at Earphone Jack and wrapped his arms around her neck and put his back towards the incoming sonic boom. Earphone Jack squeaked in surprise and embarrassment as she her face was forced against his chest, but she barely get a word out before Present Mic's booming voice passed over them.
"YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The two students gritted their teeth in anguish and shut their eyes tight at the hit directly. The hero's voice was deafening and it made their eardrums pound painfully and it made their bones shake. The only thing that was covering Cheshire's ears was his headset, but that was not nearly enough to block out the sound. For Earphone Jack, while Cheshire blocked out most of the sound with his body, it was still painful due to her sharp hearing. It felt like she was at ten rock concerts playing at the same time. Eventually, the wave of sound passed and Cheshire eventually took his arms off his partner and began rubbing his ears to ease the pain.
"I'm really sorry," he apologised profusely, "I just reacted when I saw the sound wave and I didn't want you to get hurt. Are you alright?"
Earphone Jack stared at the ground with a dazed look, "Mint, huh" she uttered to herself.
"What was that?"
She shook her head and snapped herself out of it and glared at him, "I said, don't hug me like that. I thought I was going to suffocate..." before she shyly muttered, "..but thanks. I didn't know his quirk can reach out from here."
Cheshire hummed and nodded, "We need to get him away from that gate. Maybe we can then slip by-"
The ground began to shake again and the golden waves of sound began to appear, shaking the branches of the trees. Cheshire once again acted on instinct and jumped on Jiro and wrapped his arms around her head as they were hit by another sonic attack.
"COME ON! IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
The sound passed over them again and Cheshire shakily took her arms off her again. It took a while for both of their hearing to return this time, but once it did Earphone Jack glared up at him, but his was thinking of something else.
"Stop that! We're not going to make any progress if you keep..." she trailed off when she suddenly realised something, "...oh...so that's why we're paired with me against Present Mic."
Cheshire nodded, having realised it for himself a few second earlier, "Yeah, I thought it was a bit too simple."
U.A Conference Room
A Few Days Ago
Around a large table, U.A's teachers and principal were going over the practical exam and identify what their students were lacking in. Some were too dependent on their quirks, some lacked stamina to fight, while some just didn't cooperate with other people. From there, they could see which partner would be best for them as well as which hero they needed to fight against in order to improve onto the next stage of training. Aizawa had gone over the majority of the partners so far, but, when he got to next pair, the other teachers were just confused.
"Fleetwood and Jiro against Mic?" Midnight hummed, "I get why Jiro is there, but why Fleetwood?"
Cementoss nodded his square head in agreement, "He tends to over rely on his quirk, perhaps he be better suited with either Todoroki or Yaoyorozu to go up against you, Aizawa."
Aizawa shook his head, "He works to well with either of them. Besides I have an objective in mind with their exam."
"Would your quirk even work on Fleetwood's?" Present Mic questioned the homeroom teacher, "Since he has to maintain eye contact to cancel his quirk and he can't disappear unless nobody's looking at him, you guys would be evenly matched."
Aizawa gave him a glare, "I've trained for years and he teleports around the place and manages to get lucky. We're not the same."
"Yeah, I can see that" Mic laughed, earning an even harsher glare from the tired pro-hero.
"Now, now," Nezu called out before he took a sip of his tea, "What I believe Eraserhead is trying to say is that Mr Fleetwood's quirk is not the problem."
"Yes principal," Aizawa said, "On the first day of school, Fleetwood argued with me about letting Midoryia stay in class and then tackled Bakugo before he could attack Midoryia. He took upon himself to help round up all the students during the USJ incident before attacking the Nomu despite being at a sever disadvantage. During the Sports Festival, he opted to help other students rather then trying to win. He helped drive the Nomu away from the public, took on the Hero Killer and when he saw that Stain was injured decided to help him. Do any of you see a pattern?"
Toshinori sighed as he pressed the tips of fingers together, "He puts his life on the line just so others won't get hurt. I know what that's like."
"But that's good, right?" Power Loader questioned, "That's why we wanted to be heroes."
"In theory, no," Toshinori said, "But what Fleetwood is doing is putting all the responsibility all on him rather then letting others risk getting hurt. He's putting himself and others in more danger by not sharing the load. I can't say I'm not guilty of it as well, but Fleetwood is inexperienced and his quirk is not suited for that type of thing and I'm currently hanging on by a thread."
"If Fleetwood continues to do this, he will be eventually be killed and the people he was trying to protect will blame themselves for not doing more to help," Aizawa bluntly said, "We need to stamp out this mentality before it's too late."
"How do we do that then?" Ectoplasm asked.
Aizawa gave his fellow teachers a serious look, "By not giving him a choice."
Ground Omega
Back to the present, Fleetwood wiped his brow tiredly, "So, either I leave you behind and let you suffer or the time runs out," he muttered, feeling absolutely devastated, "How could they do this?"
Earphone Jack sighed sadly as she looked around the area. Her eyes landed on the ground and suddenly she got an idea, "Hold on, maybe I can counter his soundwaves with the sound of my heartbeat," she said, "but we need to get closer to have any effect."
"Right, let's go," Cheshire agreed before the two began running off in the direction of the gate.
Not long after, they saw the familiar sight of Present Mic's quirk being used, but now it was even stronger before. Earphone Jack extended her earlobes and stuck them into the ground, ready to release her own soundwaves. She held a hand up to Cheshire to stop him from blocking the sound from her again to which he reluctantly backed away.
"HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"
When the sound waves hit, Earphone Jack gritted her teeth at the sheer force that was hitting her, but continued to send out her the vibrations of her heart palpitations, trying her best to counteract it. However, to Cheshire, it became evidently clear that they were no where near as effective. Soon, he couldn't take it any longer and covered her head again to protect her ears.
"Damn it!" Cheshire muttered crossly as the attack came on coming, "Let me see if I can distract him, somehow, and then..."
"Cheshire," Earphone Jack urgently interrupted, "There's no way he's going to move away from his position! He has the advantage! You have to leave me behind and find a way to stop Present Mic!"
He shook his head in denial, "I'm not leaving you behind! I wanted to be a hero because I wanted to help people! To stop them from getting hurt!" he looked down at his feet, "I...don't want to make them feel they are all alone, abandoned and forgotten!"
A memory flashed in his mind of when he was younger sitting at the hospital waiting room, waiting for his parents to come out of the operating room. He was left their for hours, crying his eyes out as he was completely alone. It was the worst experience of his life.
He was snapped out of his thoughts when he felt something poke his cheek. He looked up and saw that Earphone Jack had poked him with a finger since her ear lobes were covered by his hands. She gave him a reassuring smile despite how much pain she was in.
"I want to be a hero as well! I want to help others just as much as you do! Don't think of me as getting hurt, think of it as doing my duty! I know it's hard for you to see others get hurt, but I'm not a innocent victim! In order to progress, I need to take hits and get injured sometimes!" she told him with a determined smile, "Let's do this together, Fleetwood! You'll find a way to stop him while I'll distract him! If there's no other way, then just go on without me! I don't mind! All that matters is that we're both being heroes!"
Cheshire looked down at her with a surprised expression, 'Am I really preventing her and everyone from progressing?' he thought, 'I didn't mean to...I was just...' after a few seconds of thinking, he frowned confidently, 'Fine. I trust you, Jiro. Just please be careful.'
He slowly released his hold on her and instantly she cried out in pain as the full force of the attack hit her. Cheshire was worried at first but then she gave him a gritted smile and a thumbs up. She stuck her earlobes into the ground once again and began send the vibration of her heart beating through the ground. She then mouthed the words 'to distract him' at Cheshire before she closed her eyes and concentrated on what she was doing. With a sad sigh, Cheshire disappeared to the edge of the forest away from the attack zone. Unknown to him, Earphone Jack thought back to when he basically hugged her three times in the past five minutes and remembered how warm his embrace was. Suddenly, the vibrations she was emitting got louder and faster as her heat began to beat quicker.
'I really hope they're aren't any cameras in the forest,' she thought with flushed cheeks.
Edge of the Forest
Cheshire appeared right at the tree line, just a few meters to the right of Present Mic's strike zone. He looked towards the gate and grimaced at what the hero was doing. He was standing just outside the gate to the grounds, meaning if he appeared behind him he would have escaped and Jiro would fail. But if he appeared in front of him, he will be caught in the blast with no way of fighting him. Even his cards will be useless. He frowned in annoyance; they were really putting him in a difficult situation here. He knew that Jiro wanted him to pass, but he just can't go through with it. There had to be another way.
That's when he spotted something on the tree next to him. He remembered something Present Mic said during the Sports Festival and he instantly got an idea and made a pair of tongs appear in his hand.
Escape Gate
Present Mic continued to yell into the forest, finding the whole exam rather boring. Time was almost up and the only attempt the students made was Earphone Jack sending her vibration attack, but that barely effected him. He looked down at his watch and saw they only had a few minutes left and was actually considering stopping to give them a chance when suddenly, in a blink of an eye, Cheshire appeared in front of him. He was instantly knocked off his feet by the sound attack, but he rolled backwards into a kneeling position, fighting back against Present Mic with a determined look. At this distance, the sound was unbearable and he cried out in pain when his ears began to ebb in agony. The hero raised an eyebrow at him, especially since one of his hands were clutched and his hat was blown off his head.
"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYY LISSSSSSSSTTTTTTTEEEEENNNEEEEEERRRRSSSSSSSSSSS!" he roared, "YOU HAVE A BETTER CHANCE OF TELEPORTING OUT OF HEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEE! THERE'S NO POINTING IN FIGHTING MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
Cheshire dug his heels into the ground and raised his clutched hand to this to other and put them together. He then put his left hand down and pointed to Present Mic's shoulder.
"WHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTT! YOU DON'T THINK I'M FALLLLLLLLLLLLIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGG FOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRR TTTTTTTHHHHHAAA-"
He stopped mid-yell when he suddenly felt something on his shoulder and slowly creep it's way to his face. The hero glanced to his left and almost immediately his face dropped into one of absolute horror and Cheshire swore his soul left his body at that moment. Crawling across his leather jacket was a yellow and black garden spider. Although this species of arachnid was harmless to humans, Present Mic didn't really care about that fact. He screamed in sheer terror and tried spinning in circles, trying to knock the spider off of him.
"GET IT OF ME! GET IT OF ME! GET IT OF-oof!"
As soon as he was in grabbing distance, he managed to get the hero onto the ground and tied his hands up the capture tape swiftly. He sighed in relief and took off his headset so he could rub his ears. He winced in pain and pulled back his hands to see blood on his gloves, causing him to frown in concern. It might explain why he can't hear anything, but a high pitched ringing sound. However, he did it...sure it was a bit cruel of him, but it worked.
'And I would never have done it if I didn't trust Jiro,' Cheshire thought before he gasped in shock, 'Oh God, Jiro!'
He carefully picked up the spider using the tongs and his hat and put it on his head. After putting the spider back where he picked it up, he disappeared back to where Jiro was. He eventually found her kneeling on the ground and holding the sides of her head in pain. He quickly dropped to her side and saw blood trickle out of her ears and onto the ground, causing him to panic. However, Jiro looked up at him and gave him a pained smile before he could fuss over her.
"It's fine," she told him, "I can't feel Present Mic's quirk anymore, you found a way to take him down?"
Since, Jiro couldn't hear him speak, Cheshire decided to nod instead.
She smiled and punched his shoulder lightly, "Thanks, for coming back for me. I wonder if it was enough for us to pass?"
Cheshire pulled down his mask and gave her smile in response, telling her that she has done enough. Jiro shakily got to her feet, with Cheshire's support, and they then began making their way back to the exit gate. Earphone Jack happened to look up at him and noticed something that made her eyes widen and for her to tap his shoulder urgently.
"Cheshire, you're ears are bleeding as well!" she exclaimed, "Can you not hear either?"
He looked down and shook his head with a sheepish look. Being hit face first, with Present Mic's attack made his eardrums burst, making him completely deaf. However, he decided not to say anything.
"But how do you know what I'm saying?" she asked.
He responded by raising his right hand to his mouth and extended his index and middle fingers. He hooked to the two fingers slightly and made a circular motion around his lips.
"Huh? Are you saying you can lip read!" she cried, "When did you learn that!?"
He flicked his hand and made a pocket-size book appear with the title, 'Japanese Sign Language For Beginners'.
Earphone Jack couldn't help, but sweat drop at that, "You really are devoted, huh?"
(A.N: Technically, the sign Lewis made was British Sign Language, but I couldn't find an equivalent in JSL.)
Monitor Room
After they had escaped through the gate with a rather grumpy Present Mic, they were taken back to Monitor Room where they can get treated for their wounds. Recovery Girl was able to restore their hearing and they were now allowed to watch the others do their exams. Lewis and Jiro walked into the darkened observation room, both of them had removed their headgear and rubbing their ears, wincing in pain ever so often.
"How long did Recovery Girl say the pain will last?" Jiro whined.
"Until tomorrow. Maybe we should have asked her for ear drops," Lewis moaned back as they spotted Midoriya and Ochako over by the monitors.
As soon as they entered, Midoriya turned around and waved at them cheerily.
"Fleetwood! Jiro! Well done!"
The two of them flinched in pain, "Please don't shout like that," Lewis sighed.
"Our ears feel like they're burning," Jiro muttered angrily, earning a sheepish look from the green haired boy, "I take it you guys finished your exams."
"Yep! Oh sorry..." Ochako immediately apologised, speaking in quieter voice after Jiro glared at her, "We totally aced it. Although, it was close."
Midoriya nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah, you should have seen Ochako. Thirteen was using their quirk on them, making them cling on to the railing and so she let herself go and risked her life to make Thirteen stop using her quirk. Then when Thirteen was distracted, she took them down and put the handcuffs on them."
Lewis eyes widened in amazement as he looked over at the brown haired girl, "No way. You used Thirteen's quirk against them. That's a great strategy."
"...Yeah...strategy...," Ochako hesitantly said, casting a shy look at Midoryia, "All according to plan."
Jiro gave her a questioning look at her tone, but decided not to call her out on it. The boys, on the other hand, were completely oblivious. Lewis looked up at tone of the monitors and frowned sadly when he saw Red Riot and Sugarman being taken away on stretches. The two of them had bruises and cuts all over they body, looking like they had just come from a savage battle.
"Kirishima and Sato failed," he said in disappointment.
Midoryia nodded, "Yeah, their battle had just finished. Cementoss had worn them down with wall after wall of cement before he smothered them until they were incapacitated. However, Asui and Fumikage won against Ectoplasm."
"That's eight of us who passed so far. Who else is there?" Jiro asked.
"Well, Yaoyorozo and Todoroki are still doing their exam, as well as Iida and Ojiro, Sero and Mineta and Hagakure and Shoji," said the brown-haired girl.
Lewis raised an eyebrow, "What about Mina and Karminari?"
Midoryia pointed at the screen that displayed the industrial zone known as Ground Gamma. He saw that Chargebolt was waiting at the gate, kicking a pebble around with a bored expression on his face. Curiously, he was all alone; there was no sign of the pink-skinned girl anywhere.
"I think they are waiting for Ashido," he explained, "I'm not quite sure where she has gone, but it has been a while."
'Mina's gone before the test. Weird, she seemed eager to take the practical exam,' Lewis thought, 'I hope she's alright. It's not like her to just go like that.'
"Oh no," Ochako gasped, pointing to another monitor, "Aizawa's tied up Todoroki and he's going after Momo."
They four of them looked over and saw their fellow classmate at their grounds, which was designed to look like a suburban residential area. Elduris was currently tied up by Aizawa's capture scarf and hung up on a lamp post; they could see her struggling against her bindings wit great difficulty. Creatie was running down some back alleyways, holding her head in her hands as if she was trying to think of what to do. They weren't quite sure what she was planning, but Lewis knew that was growing more and more desperate. He clutched his hands into fists and frowned deeply at the thought they he couldn't do anything to help her.
She was all on her own.
Ground Epsilon
Creatie sprinted down the backroads, her face furrowed into a deep frown and sweat poured down her face. She was trying so hard to think of what she needed to do next, but she couldn't decide on a single thing.
'How much further is the exit gate?' she thought in panic, 'Is there a shorter route? Is this okay? Is Todoroki okay back there? Is it worth losing some time to create a mobility item? Is this really okay!? Can I really run away!? Where am I running to!? I don't know! I don't know what to do!'
Her mind was jumbled up as the fear of disappointing her peers began to take hold of her. She could hear Aizawa closing in on her as he ran across the rooftops, making her mind even more murky.
'What do I do!? What would Todoroki!? What would Midoryia do!? What would Fleetwood!?' she yelled in her head.
'Stop comparing yourself to others...' she suddenly remembered. That simple sentence seemingly dispelling her clouded mind, '...focus on ways you can improve yourself...so you need a little time to come up with a strategy. Don't worry about it...there's always next time and that time you're going to show the world what a great hero you really are.'
'That's what Fleetwood said to me,' she thought in awe, 'He believes in me. Enough to vote me to become vice-president, even though he barely knew me at the time. He and everyone has so much faith in me,' she realised as a small smile crept onto her face, 'I can't disappoint him. I can't disappoint anybody. Not after all they have done for me. They are...my friends and as a vice-president of Class 1A, I must pass this test and set an example,' she thought in determination.
Suddenly, she felt something wrap around her arm and begin to pull her back. She looked back and saw her teacher has snared her with his scarf and was prepared to capture her. However, the pro-hero must have blinked because Creatie felt her quirk working. She produced a giant bracelet from her arm, at the place where the binding cloth had caught, making it lift up the bindings and allowing her to slip her arm out. Instead of running to the exit, to Aizawa's intrigue, to began to run back the way she came from towards where Elduris was being held.
Her mind was no longer foggy with doubts and uncertainties. She knew what she needed to do and, therefore, knew how to achieve them. She was on a mission with two objectives.
Help Elduris and pass the exam.
Monitor Room
"Huh? She's running back," Jiro said in amazement as she watched Creatie from the screen.
As the others wondered what she was doing, Lewis smiled proudly as he saw the fierce look of determination on her face. He may not know what she was planning either, but he didn't need to. What was important was that Momo was not giving up.
Midoryia looked up at the other monitors and smiled, "Look, Iida and Ojiro have passed and so have Hagakure and Shoji."
"Alright!" Ochako cheered before immediately apologising to Lewis and Jiro for being too loud, "Looks like the majority of the class are coming to the camp."
"We just need a few more people," Jiro said before she winced in pain and held her ears, "Damn it! I don't think I can bare with this until tomorrow."
"Let me go find Recovery Girl," Lewis said, "Maybe I can find some ear drops."
"Thanks," she sighed as he left the room in search for the elderly nurse.
Once he had left, Ochako sided up to Jiro and grinned mischievously at her, "So, what was it liked to be hugged by him?" she whispered.
She responded with a heated glare, "I tell you as soon as you tell me what caused you to let go of the railing during your exam."
The gravity girl blushed immediately, "...You know what, you don't have to tell me."
"Nice glass house you got there, Ochako," Jiro smirked while Midoryia just gave the two girls confused looks.
Hallway
Lewis walked down the hallway to where he knew Recovery Girl was tending to Kirishima and Sato. He walked around the corner, but stopped suddenly when he saw Mina outside the women's toilets further down the hallway. She stood there rigidly, staring down at the floor with an intense look while her fists tightened. He could also see some acid dripping from her hands and onto the floor, but she didn't seem to notice. After a few seconds, she looked up, took a deep breath and turned away from him as if she was about to leave. However, another second or two had passed, and she turned back again and leaned on the bathroom door with a frustrated sigh. Lewis raised his eyebrows at her odd behaviour and began to approach her.
"Mina?"
She jumped in fright and spun around to see him, "Sorry, I was just..." she sighed in relief when she saw it was only him, "...oh Neko-chan. Don't scare me like that," she said as she forced a smile on her face, "What's up?"
"Are you alright? I thought you would be at your exam," he asked with a worried frown.
She gave a dismissive wave, "Oh yeah, I just needed to use the bathroom," she casually told him, "Don't worry about me. I'm fine. You go...carry on with whatever you're doing. I'll just be a few minutes."
Lewis hummed in concern, "They allowed you to just leave in the middle of it?"
"Oh no, we haven't started yet. They took me here because it's the nearest toilets in the area. There's a shuttlebus right outside," her smile seemed to widen, "Honestly, you can just go. You worry too much, Neko-chan."
"Mina..." he hesitantly began, "...you're not trying to skip your exam are you?"
Mina laughed, "Skip it? What you think I'm some sort of delinquent? Why would I skip on such a really, really..." as she spoke her smile began to waver slightly and he thought he saw a tear roll down her face, "...really important test...that...that...I totally didn't prepare for," she approached him started pushing him back up the corridor, "Now, come on. Stop worrying. Go now, I'm fine."
"Mina..." he tried to say as he dug his heels into the floor.
"I said go," she forcefully said, keeping her head lowered so he couldn't see her face, "Go back and watch the other exams or something," she told him as he heard release a small sob.
"Wait. Hold on," he said before he reached down and grabbed her shoulders to stop her from pushing any further, "Mina, please."
Seeing that there was no way of moving him, Mina, much to his surprise, slumped into his chest. She sobbed loudly as she buried her face into his jacket and wrapped his arms around his torso, hugging him tightly. On instinct, Lewis petted her back, trying to reassure her the best as he can.
"W-why...can't you just leave me," she wept, stuttering her words, "I...I didn't want you to see me like this."
He took a deep breath as he tried to come up with the best way to handle this, "Mina...I know you're scared, but it's going to be fine-"
"No, it's not!" she shouted, making him wince slightly, "I'm going to fail and it's all going to be my fault, because I'm useless!"
"You're not useless, Mina. What's wrong? You were so confident earlier. Is it because you're not battling robots like we thought we were?"
She sniffed and shook her head, "No...not entirely. I...I've just never been good at exams...I just can't do them. You and Momo have been really helpful preparing me for the writing test and I thought if I could get that done...the practical would be easy. Just like the entrance exam," she whimpered, "But now they've changed it and I don't know if I'll be any good. Karminari and I don't plan things...we let the smart people in our class do that, but now we're all alone and I don't know what to do! Ah! Why do I have to be so dumb!" she crossly yelled.
"You're not dumb, Mina. Exams don't prove how intelligent people are," Lewis told her gently, "I think you're much smarter then you think."
She pulled away and glare down at her feet, "Of course, you would say that," she muttered.
"Because it's true. I mean you were able to come up with an effective strategy when you fought against me during the Sports Festival."
"Not that effective, because I lost."
"You put me in a difficult situation that I needed to get out of," he told her, "Mina, I don't know why you think this way. You and Karminari are just as good at coming up with plans as the rest of the class. You just haven't the opportunity to show it."
She sniffed and sobbed once more, "I have almost failed every test I've ever taken from Middle school to now. I don't need to do this practical to know I'm not worth teaching," she shrugged, "Maybe I'm not even worth being a hero. I mean, who would want to be save by a heroine who couldn't complete one stupid test," she miserably said.
"I would," Lewis confidently told her, surprising her a little, "Because I know you and you're more then just a grade on a bit of paper. You're confident, have a unique and useful quirk, bright, friendly and you have a wonderful smile," he told her, making her giggle and blush a little, "Anyone would be lucky to be saved by you, because you're just such an amazing person. Take me for example, I was stuttering, awkward mess at the beginning of the school year and now...well, I'm still quite awkward, but I'm way better now all because of you and everybody in our class. You made me a better person Mina and you will make a great hero in the future. So, don't let this practical bring you down. If you fail then you have to work harder next year. If you pass then you are on the right tracks. No matter what, I'm still going to be here to help you."
Mina looked up at him with an earnest expression and blushed purple when he saw his dazzling smile, filled with hope and support. Knowing that he was here to support her and encourage her made her feel...like she could do anything. She sniffed and wiped the tears from her eyes, before giving him a genuine smile.
"You're right. I'm not going to let this drag me down. I'll do my best. Thanks you," she told him before frowning slightly, "However, I still don't know where to start with planning."
"You can use the technique I always use for when we're in training. They are basic principals, but they should work," Lewis told her, "But I can't help you anymore then that."
"Technique?" Mina uttered before giving a determined grin, "Why didn't you say so? What is it?"
And so, Lewis explained to her the four phases and soon Mina was prepared. She put her mask over her eyes before looking up at him with a happy smile.
"Thank you, Neko-chan. I really...I..." she hesitated slightly at what she was going to say before she decided it wasn't the best time, "...I really owe you one."
Lewis chuckled, but squeaked in surprise when she gave him a quick hug before running down the corridor towards the exit. No matter the what she was going to face, she was going to try her best and make him proud of her.
Ground Gamma
The shuttle bus dropped Xeno right at the gate before it drove away. The pink-skinned girl looked towards the gate, seeing Chargebolt waving at her. She took a deep, shaky breath and walked over to him.
"Hey, where you've been? I've been waiting ages for you," Chargebolt crossly complained.
"Sorry…I had to deal with some stuff," she softly said, "Is Principal Nezu around?"
He jabbed his thumb in the direction of the gate, "He entered like ten minutes ago. He said we had another ten minutes prep time starting from when we enter. We enter through here and they we have to find another gate somewhere," he explained before he casually walked in through the gate, "This will be a piece of cake. Let's get this over with."
Xeno hesitated slightly before she too entered after him, "Yeah…sure."
They walked through the narrow lanes of the industrial complex, the tall warehouses and grey, rusty pipes loomed over them, making Xeno feel like they were ants. It was as if they stepped into an unnavigable jungle, everywhere they look was just another building, metal cooling towers or pipes crisscrossing each other. While Xeno looked around nervously, as if their principal would jump out at them at any moment, Chargebolt seemed relaxed about the whole thing.
"So, have you prepared?" he asked suddenly.
Xeno blinked, "For what?"
"For camp," he answered, as if it was obvious, "I don't if I should start packing or not. Maybe I should go shopping over the summer break."
"That sounds like a…" she stopped herself before she could get distracted, "Err…I think we should concentrate on our exam."
Chargebolt laughed, "Don't worry, it's going to be a cinch. If we were up against All Might or another other teacher, I'll be worried, but Nezu is…" he held his hand up to below his waist, "…this tall. I honestly feel bad for-"
"Shut up!" Mina suddenly shouted, causing Chargebolt to look at her in surprise. Her black eyes were filled with fierce passion that honestly scared the blond teen slightly, "I'm sorry for shouting at you, but I really, really, really don't want to fail this exam. Especially, after we suffered through hours of studying for the writing test, so we are going to did properly," she demanded firmly, pointing accusingly at him, "This is not going to be a easy and our classmates are not here to bail us out, so we have to combine our efforts and take down our principal on our own. Do you understand!?"
Karminari yelped and nodded, "Yes….I understand."
"Sorry for shouting at you again! I'm really stressed!"
"Apology accepted."
"Are you scared of me!?"
"Yes."
"Well, don't be! I'm trying to help!"
"Yes ma'am," Chargebolt gulped.
A klaxon blared throughout the area, making them jump in surprise. Xeno felt her stomach drop at the noise, knowing that their exam has now begun.
"Crap, we've already started. What's our plan?"
"Plan?" Xeno muttered, "Right! It's err…" she hesitated slightly, trying to remember what Lewis had told her, "…opponent!"
"What?"
"We need to know about our opponent. What are his characteristics?"
Chargebolt blinked, "Err…he's a mouse…or something like that. He's short…probably quite smart being the principal-"
"Right!" Xeno suddenly cried, "He's short so he would need to be somewhere high up in order to see us. He's probably hiding on top of these buildings."
"That doesn't really narrow it down. There are lot of buildings," he pointed out.
"Which is why we move on to the second phase…reconnaissance," she announced before running up to the building on her left. She began produced some acid in her hands before she placed them on the wall of the building, making a hand-sized gap in it, before she pulled herself up and made a second one. She turned around to look at Chargebolt, "Come on, we need to climb up. Use the handholds I'm making."
"Climb up? Are you crazy? We'll be more exposed. Wouldn't it be better to stay down here where it's safer."
Xeno turned around and held up three fingers to him, "Phase 3: environment. Since we don't know the area very well we'll eventually get lost. It's better to take the vantage point and scope out the area."
He stared up at her in bemusement, "…Who are you and what did you do with Ashido?"
"Just get up here!"
Centre of Ground Gamma
Nezu hummed happily to himself as he sat in the cockpit of large crane that looked over the entire industrial complex. The seat may have been too large for him, but he was still able to use the numerous levers that operated the crane and it's giant wrecking ball. He sipped his tea as he planned the battle in precise detail, nothing being overlooked and every valuable accounted for. This, of course, was helped by his quirk:
High Spec: grants him a high level of intelligence that surpasses that of humans. Nezu's Quirk enables him to live freely like a normal person, despite being an animal.
Since he knew the entrance Xeno and Chargebolt entered from, their average walking speed, and an insight into both of their psyches, Nezu predicted that their location would be around the southern area of Ground Gamma, walking casually down one of backstreets. He hummed in delight as he was about to pull of of the levers when he spotted something that took him by surprise. He saw Xeno and Chargebolt in the distance, climbing on top of one of the buildings before they began to scope the area. The principal squeaked curiously before a small smile graced his furry face.
"It would appear that they have changed strategies," he told himself, "How unusual. Still, they have far to go. I am much more adaptable in my planning then they are," he said with a wicked smirk.
Ground Epsilon
Meanwhile, Creatie's plan had worked.
After coming back to get Elduris and explaining her idea to her, Shoko was able to produce a giant wall of ice that restricted Eraserhead's view of them. While he was distracted, Creatie enacted the second phase of her plan and produced a miniature catapult, capture gear that was similar to Aizawa's and two large cloaks that were big enough to cover her and Elduris. They then ran out behind the ice wall, catching the hero's attention, but, because he couldn't see them, wasn't able to nullify their quirks. He had to pursue them and, when he was close enough, reviewed the catapult, which was loaded with the capture gear, and fired it at unsuspecting Aizawa. The capture gear was special as Creatie made it out a material that, when exposed to heat, returns back to it's original shape. So, when Elduris fired a jet of flames, the capture gear snapped back into its original coil shape and wrapped around Eraserhead, trapping him mid-air. With the pro-hero captured, Creatie and Elduris had passed the exam.
Creatie had just snapped the handcuffs over Aizawa's wrist and wiped her brow tiredly while Elduris watched from the side, "I can't believe it worked," she said to herself, "But if only I had time to polish it. I could probably have made the cloaks a little larger, maybe we could have done away from the town in case there are bystanders, or perhaps-"
"Yaoyorozu," Aizawa firmly interrupted as he sat tied on the ground, "There's no such thing as a perfect plan and, even if there was, I didn't allow you to have enough time to think of one. Your objective was to capture the villain or escape while I tried to take you down to the best of my abilities. You had completed it and that's more then enough for a passing grade."
"But I-"
"Don't argue with your examiner. I'm telling you that you did alright. Well done."
Creatie was taken back by this, but she gave a small smile, "Thank you, sir."
She heard Elduris clear her throat, making her turn around to see her looking guiltily at the ground, "Yaoyorozu...I'm sorry."
"Sorry?" she asked, "Sorry for what?"
"You had a plan, didn't you? But I choose to not listen to you, because you hesitated. I understand now that you needed time to think, but I was too arrogant to hear you out and, because of it, we almost failed," she told her with a small sigh, "I...I've been revaluating some life choices recently and I am trying to build up relationships with my fellow classmates. It has been slow progress so far, but I promise I will get better with some help. I thought I was ready today since I have trusted your judgement from the start of the school year and believe in your strong work ethic. After all, I did vote for you to become class president. But evidently I still have far to go in becoming...friends with everybody. I really hope that this doesn't hinder our...are you alright?" she suddenly asked, seeing Creatie with tears in her eyes and holding her hands over her mouth.
"You voted for me to become president?" she sobbed.
"Yes. Did you not know?"
"Of course not! I've been wondering who the others were for ages," she cried as tears rolled down her face, "You really trust me that much! Thank you Todoroki! That means so much to me!"
Elduris frowned slightly and took a step back from the weeping girl, "I...don't really know...what to do...err...please don't cry...I didn't mean to upset you."
"I'm not upset!" Creatie wailed as she grabbed onto her shoulders, "I'm so grateful! Thank you!" before she wrapped her arms around her and wept into her shoulder, "Thank you!"
The stoic girl looked around in panic, "I don't understand...let me get Fleetwood and he'll sort this out."
"You don't have to! I'm fine!"
"You don't seem fine. I think it's best to get him."
"Wah! Todoroki!"
"Fleetwood help!"
Aizawa watched the two girls, one crying her eyes out as the other looked uncomfortable and tried to get away from her, with a dull expression on his face. He sighed and laid down on the ground on his side.
'It times like these that I really wish I stayed in bed,' he drearily thought.
Monitor Room
Lewis, Jiro, Ochako, and Midoryia stared at the monitor display for Ground Epslion and sweat dropped whey they saw Creatie cry into the shoulder of a very confused and very uncomfortable-looking Elduris.
"Do you think I should go down there?" Lewis asked.
"I think they're alright," Ochako answered, not taking her eyes of the screen.
Ground Gamma
Xeno stood on the roof of the building and looked around her surroundings while Chargebolt slowly climbed up behind her. The blond boy looked around the area before his eyes widened when he spotted something.
"Hey, there it is!" he cried pointing towards the eastern part of the grounds, "that's the exit. You were right about this vantage thing."
"Yeah, but where's the principal?" Xeno asked in worry.
"Who cares. Let's just get out of here and get-"
CRASH! BOOM! BANG!
They jumped in fright as explosion of noise erupted not too far away from them. They turned around and gaped when they saw the buildings and the complexes smash into each other, throwing debris and dust high into the air. The destructive force barraged it's way from building to building, knocking them down like dominos around them. It's journey crashed into the building across the street from them, making them cover their heads to stop getting hit by a pipe or bit of cement. Once it had all stopped, they looked up and gasped when they saw what had happened from on top of their building. A line of buildings reduced to rubble ran from the southern wall to the northern wall, completely blocking them from the exit gate by a wall of wreckage.
"No way!" Xeno cried, "How did he do all of this!?"
"Look," Chargebolt cried, pointing at something in the distance, "There's somebody in the crane!"
Xeno turned and looked just in time to see a large red crane lift up a wrecking ball and smashed it against the side of another building, forming another chain reaction heading towards them. The two of them screamed in terror, ran to the side and leapt onto the next building adjacent before they roof they were on was torn into pieces. They couldn't stop moving as more and more debris were hurled at them and so they had to leap from building to building to avoid it all.
"WHAT THE HELL! IS HE TRYING TO KILL US!" Chargebolt yelled.
Top of the Crane
"Haha!" Nezu cackled as he operated the crane with expertise, "I can cause chain reactions depending on where I break. These calculations are as easy as making a cup of tea. You may have changed your strategy slightly, but it makes no difference for intellectual-type villains like myself who will sit and watch from the side lines. HAHA! YOU'RE ALL DOOMED! HAHAHAHAHA! DANCE MY LITTLE HUMAN PUPPETS, DANCE!" he yelled manically.
Monitor Room
...
...
...
...
"I heard from Recovery Girl that Nezu was experimented on by humans," Lewis finally spoke up, breaking the shocked silence, "I think he likes to get revenge and release his sadistic side ever so often."
"That mouse...bear...thing is way more intense then I first thought," Jiro said, earning a nod in agreement from the rest of the students present.
Ground Gamma
Xeno and Chargebolt had managed to find a roof entrance into one of the complexes and, with help of Xeno's acid, were able to get through the locked door. The descended a concrete staircase and into the darkened warehouse where they were safe from Nezu's destructive power for now.
"What do we do?" Chargebolt muttered, "He's blocked off our escape. Is he even allowed to do that?"
"I guess he can," Xeno sighed, "at least we know which way it is. Maybe, I can melt the debris away."
"We don't have time for that. Maybe we can find a route through...but then again he'll just block it again. You mentioned that there was a fourth phase. What was it? Can it help?"
"Communication," Xeno sighed, "we need to make sure we know what the other is doing at all times."
"So, no help then," he muttered.
Suddenly, Xeno gasped when she thought of something, "Wait, what if we do the opposite."
Chargebolt gave her an odd look, "What are you talking about?"
"Think about it, Nezu is causing chain reactions which are targeted at us, but what if we split up. Then he has two people to consider rather then us together. If you go at him from one side and then I go from the other side, he'll be caught unaware."
"What we're attacking him now? What about escaping?"
"You said it yourself, we can't escape. So if we're going pass this exam we need to capture-"
CRACK!
She stopped suddenly when she heard a loud noise above her and some dust fall onto her head. They both looked up and yelped when they saw the ceiling began to split and crack open, allowing daylight to appear.
"JUMP!" she cried when she saw several tons of rubble start to fall through the gap and right on top of the.
They leapt backwards, away from each other, the debris smashing into the ground that they had previously stood on. Xeno coughed and sputtered as dust got in her airways, but she couldn't stop. She stumbled onto her feet and ran to the closest wall and throw a glob of acid at it which melted away the concrete and allowed her to escape outside. As soon as she stepped outside, the entire warehouse they had been had collapsed. She gasped in horror at the sight, worried the her partner was caught in the collapse. She was about to go looking for him when she heard a shout from somewhere in the rubble.
"Xeno! Are you alright!
"Oh thank god," she muttered, "I'm fine! What about you!"
"I'm good! He's honestly trying to kill us!" the voice of Karminari cried out, "You're right! It's time to get serious! Let's stick to the plan and take our principal down!" he shouted encouragingly.
Xeno blinked in surprise before she grinned, "Yeah! Let's do this thing!"
She began to sprint down the alleyway towards the western edge of the grounds, looking for a path that will take her to the centre where the crane should be. She heard an eruption of noise behind her and turned her head around to see buildings and structures collapse behind her, getting closer to crush her. She yelped before she produced acid from the holes in her shoes, so she could swiftly glide over the ground. She was a lot faster now, but the destruction was keeping up with her. She looked ahead and smiled when she saw a path branding off to the left. When she was close enough, she jumped down the path and slid down it, away from falling pieces of debris. She can't stop now, time was running out and and she hasn't even thought of way to take down Nezu.
'Can I melt the foundation? No that might be dangerous. Perhaps I can climb up, but he's probably have something in place that'll stop me. Ugh! What do I do no-ah!'
She cried when she saw pieces of rubble fell on her from above. She leapt and did a forward roll over bit of rusty pipe, she slid under a metal girder and she threw globs of acid that were about to hit her head, luckily melting away before they hit her. She slid down the path as fast as she can as she saw the end of the path. However, above the exit she saw a mesh of metal girders falling to it ready to block her path.
"COME ON! GIVE ME A BREAK!" she yelled at nobody in particular, sliding faster towards it.
Her legs were getting tired, but there was no way she was giving up now. As soon as was near the exit, the mesh of metal, right above her head. She leapt as far as she can, gritting her teeth to fight away the pain, and landed in a forward roll, the metal mesh falling right behind her. She sat on the ground and took a moment to catch her breath before she looked around.
Her eyes widened when she looked to the left and spotted the crane not too far away in the centre of a cross roads down the road. She got to her feet and glided towards the crane as quickly as possible. Time was almost out and so there was no point in being sneaky about it. She was getting closer to it, keeping her eyes on the wrecking ball that was prepared to crush anything in its wake.
'Come on, Mina, think. How am I going to do this? Maybe I can get him down…but I don't have time to think of an distraction. Damn, what would Neko-chan do?' she thought to herself.
Suddenly, the crane whipped around towards her direction and the wrecking ball smashed into the side of the building, sending pieces raining down at her. Xeno had to stop short to avoid getting hit and backed away from the now blocked path.
"Haha! You have to try better then that!" Nezu madly laughed, grinning down at her from his seat. He suddenly hummed and began turning his crane back the other way in time to see Chargebolt sprint down the street from the other way, "Oh and there's the second attack. Just as predicted."
The blond teen had been waiting until Nezu was distracted to charge out with electricity sparking around his body as he prepared his attack.
"Sorry Principal. But I want to win this," he muttered through gritted teeth as he focused on the metal crane foundation, his hands outstretched and ready to grab it, "INDISCRIMINATE SHOC-"
KABOOM!
Suddenly, he was thrown off his feet as the building he was running by exploded and landed roughly on the ground. He groaned in pain and saw that the building had collapsed in on itself, completely blocking his path towards Nezu.
"Damn it!" Chargebolt shouted in anger as heard Nezu laugh from his crane.
"Now that your path is blocked, there's no choice but to give up," Nezu cackled in delight as he began to turn the crane around towards Xeno, "It was quite a shame because you two were doing so-"
He squeaked in surprise when he saw Xeno leap from on top of the building and land on the tip of the crane arm as it swung by, gripping onto the metal girders tightly. While Nezu was distracted with Chargebolt, she had used her acid to climb up the side of a building and waited for this moment. She gritted her teeth as she leaned down and threw a glob of acid below her at the metal wire holding up the wrecking ball. The wire sizzled and started to smoke until it snapped and dropped the wrecking ball on to the ground with a loud crash.
"Oh dear," Nezu said cheerily, seemingly not bothered by what had happened, "that's not good."
Xeno grinned as she acrobatically climbed down the arm towards the cockpit. She jumped off the arm, landed on the platform, swung open the door to the compartment, grabbed Nezu's paw and placed a handcuff over his little wrist. At that moment, the klaxon sounded across the ground, making her gasp.
'Ashido Mina and Karminari Denki have passed the exam!'
Xeno's eyes widened and her jaw dropped in disbelief, "We did it..." she uttered, "...we passed the exam! Awesome!" she squealed jumping up and down in absolute joy, accidentally jostling the shorter principal up and down as she was still holding onto the handcuffs.
"Con-ow!-gra-ow!-lations-ow!," Nezu said through squeaks of pain.
"Oh sorry," she said, stopping her small celebration.
"It's quite alright, Miss Ashido. You caught me by surprise with your change in strategy. It was quite impressive," he told her, making her grin proudly, "However, I can't help but have the same result if you hadn't had that talk with Mr Fleetwood."
Xeno gulped, "Oh...you knew about that."
"A logical guess. You were gone for quite a while and your tactics remind me of him. I can only assume that you were trying to skip the exam, but Mr Fleetwood managed to convince you to go."
She sighed sadly, "Yeah, I'm sorry."
"Not to worry. If you were worried about the exam then you can always consult one of your teachers rather then just hiding. Next time, please be more prepared and never take rumours as gospel truths. Otherwise you'll be caught off guard," he told her gently, earning a guilty nod from her, "Still, do not be disheartened. You followed good advise and were able to come up with a sound strategy. You should be grateful to have companions that are willing to help."
Xeno gave a small smile as she thought about Lewis, "I am. I'm really grateful."
Nezu chuckled, "That's good to hear. And I'm grateful for this battle. Next time we do this examination, I will be even more prepared and I'll pulverise the new first years underneath my iron paw! Hahahahahahaha!" he cackled evilly.
Xeno sweat dropped as he watched him laugh like a villain, "Should you really be running a high school?"
Monitor Room
"They did it!" Ochako gasped in joy while the others cheered in celebration, "They actually did it!"
"It looks like over half of the class is going to camp," Midoryia happily said.
Lewis chuckled and smiled proudly at the monitor displaying Mina as she jumped up and down and pumped her fists in the air. She really did deserve this and he couldn't be happier for her.
Class 1A
Class was dismissed earlier then usual and the exhausted students took the opportunity to get home as soon as possible. Soon, the only students left was Lewis, who was still packing his bag, and Shoko who hadn't moved from her desk yet. Once he was done, Lewis glanced over at the stoic girl and frowned slightly when he saw her staring down at her desk with a blank expression. She hadn't even started packing yet.
"Shoko," he called out to her, making her look up at him, "Are you alright? You look troubled."
She looked up from her desk at him, "I'm fine...it's just..." she frowned sadly, "...I didn't do as well as I thought I would."
"With the exam?"
"With being more cooperative. I thought I was trying to help Yaoyorozu, but I ended up making it worse for us," she sighed and looked down at her desk, "I even reassured you that I knew what I was doing before the exam, but it's clear that I still know nothing about working with others. They're just too hard. I'm sorry for disappointing you. Especially, since you've been encouraging me to build better relationships with our classmates. I must be a nuisance."
"Hey, you're not a nuisance," he told her with an encouraging smile, "and you definitely didn't disappoint me. You're trying your best and I'm very proud of you. What's important is that you've aware that you can do better. Come on now, why don't we celebrate completing our exams by going to a café," he suggested, making her perk up a little, "we can work on how to expand your social skills over tea and cake."
Shoko hummed thoughtfully before she picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder, "That sounds good. Don't worry about buying anything. I have you covered."
"Oh you don't have to pay for me," he told her as they headed out of the classroom.
"I'm not," she said, as she took out her wallet and showed him a credit card with the name Enji Todoroki on it, "my father will pay for it. He's been annoying me recently."
Lewis blinked at her in surprise before he wore an awestruck expression, "You are so cool."
"No, only half of me is," she answered flatly as she put the card away. As they walked down the empty hallways towards the exit, Shoko glanced over at him before clearing her throat, "Fleetwood. I've been curious about something recently."
"Oh really? What with?" he asked happily.
"Well, I happen to see something on a romantic soap opera the other night..."
'She watches romantic soap operas!?' he thought in astonishment.
She suddenly glared at him, "...Fuyumi was watching the soap opera. I was taking a break from training. I'm not into those type of things."
Lewis held his hands up defensively, "I didn't say anything."
"I know you thought of it," she said, hitting the nail on the head. She then hummed and looked down at the floor, "Anyway, I was curious about something I saw and I have been wondering why people do it. So, since we are friends, do you mind if we recreate the act?"
'I have absolutely no idea where she's going with this,' he thought in dread.
"Fleetwood," without looking at him, she held out her right hand for him, "Can I please hold you hand...as friends?"
Lewis felt his mind go blank at that moment. His brain couldn't process what she was offering and he stood there staring at her slightly blushed face. Very soon, his mind began to work again and his face turned bright red.
'A beautiful girl...just offered to hold hands!' he shouted in his head, 'Oh God! What do I do!? I can't deny it, I don't think I'll ever get this opportunity again! Do I take it!? Wait? What if my hands get sweaty! I don't want to think I'm really gross! How tight should I have my grip! Not too firm and not too limp! Why is this so difficult!'
While he was mentally having a breakdown, Shoto was waiting patiently for his answer. Was she thinking the exact same thing he was thinking? Well...let's just say that there's a reason why she offered the hand on her cold side rather then the hand on her sweat-inducing hot side. Eventually, by some miracle, Lewis was able to calm down and nod.
"Sure...since we're freinds...we can do that," he replied with a small stammer.
"Yes...as friends..." Shoko agreed.
Lewis lifted a shaky left hand to Shoko's and, after a couple of awkward tries, eventually gripped their hands together gently. The reaction was almost immediate, they felt a warm, soothing feeling growing within them as they walked hand in hand down the empty corridor. Their hears began to pulsate faster the longer they kept it up. Neither of them spoke to each other, nor did they look up from the floor. They were too wrapped up in the moment to do anything else. After what felt like hours, Lewis cleared his throat, catching Shoko's attention.
"I'm not...gripping too hard, am I?"
"No," she answered immediately, "My fingernails are not bothering you."
"Oh no, they're fine."
"Good...this...this feels nice."
"Yeah...I like it-"
Suddenly, much to their shock, Momo came around the corner, looking down at a few books in her hands. Shoko was so surprised by her appearance that she accidently activated her quirk and froze Lewis' hand in a block of ice.
"AH!" he yelped in pain and, with his other hand, grabbed his wrist up.
Momo jumped at the cry and looked around to see Lewis and his hand encased in ice while Shoko looked at him in alarm, "Fleetwood are you alright! Shoko why would you do that!"
"I...I'm sorry. It was an accident," Shoko honestly said as she ignited her other hand, "Hold on, I'll just melt the ice."
As she and Momo began to get Lewis' hand out of the ice before he loses the blood flow to his fingers, he couldn't help but drearily think, 'Well, at least I don't have to worry about sweaty hands anymore.'
Lewis' House
While Lewis was getting his hand thawed out, a simple letter dropped through the letterbox and landed on the floor in front of the door. There was nothing entirely unusual about the plain white letter that was for Lewis, other then the fact that inside of it bulged slightly as if it was holding something bulky. The sender address was written on the back of it and once Lewis got home and read who it was from, he couldn't help but gasp in shock.
His surprise is understandable...it wasn't everyday you get a personal letter all the way from I-Island.
And that's it. Sorry it took so long.
Nothing really much to say. I've been thinking about the final exam and how Lewis would be evaluated and this was the best I could come up with. There were a lot of romantic interactions in this chapter with Jiro, Mina and Shoko and they are going to be more in the next chapter. In the original draft, Shoko was going to ask for a head pat from Lewis, but I felt that was a bit too much. Maybe I'll involve it in the future.
I also decided that Mina should pass the exam since she's been studying with Lewis all this time. Also I have a plan for both of them during the summer camp arc.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter, see you next time :)