New year, new chapter. Today we are having something mostly lighthearted fun, but with tension in the background.

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Comments:

Psy-Kick: I think he is confused what to be or feel Eijiro isn't one you'd suspect of scheming or suspicious secrets.

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Proofread by 3DPhantom

Chapter 81: The Parrot Man, also some exams

Izuku was heading towards the school building, comfortably surrounded by the people that made his life bearable, but his stare was focused on the back of the head of one of them with intensity that would have burned through a softer skinned person. Eijiro was walking near the front of their group, face on a book along with Tenya as they tried to get the last moments of studying in before the written end of term exam they were about to do.

Since his secret supposed studying wasn't actually studying, he might have had a reason to be concerned. Despite his potential as an amazing hero, academics were not his strongest aspect, at least among those already filtered through UA entrance exams.

A hand waved in front of Izuku's face, forcing him to focus on Hitoshi next to him.

"Still bothered by what he is doing when we train without him," Hitoshi whispered. It wasn't even a question.

"With All Might," Izuku added, sounding like a betrayed kid, which was accurate and probably healthier than his usually darker impulses.

"Maybe there is something Eijiro realized he could get from him better than anyone else. Would you want him to get less than the best because you don't like the man?"

Izuku looked down. At least Hitoshi was in a good enough mood to not kick him while he was down.

"There you are," a familiar girl's voice called. "I wasn't sure at first, not used to people looking so small far away, but it is hard to miss so much white and red hair in your group."

Hatsume from the support course jogged to them with a wide, slightly unsettling smirk on her face. She stopped in front of Izuku.

"So how has my quirk worked?" She asked.

"It's great," Izuku responded, smiling back at her. "Really helps me… to see things in a new light."

"Well said. Anyway, I finally got it."

"What?"

"The new baby you paid me for silly. Remember, the quirk wasn't the only thing you bought. I would have gotten it sooner, but we have our finals too and I had to do a little extra project for the teachers."

Slowly Izuku looked through an archive of his memories till he found one of the many ways he had tried to help those around him.

"You really got one, a voice changer?"

In response she reached into her backpack and pulled out a black metal mask. It reminded Izuku way too much of his father's mask and even Shirokuro's helmet, especially with the black metal look. At least this looked like it would only cover the lower face and did not have any piping going into it. Small metal plates that looked like they could move on the other hand… They gave it a slightly beak-like appearance.

"Yep, but don't call my baby that. It sounds like an electronic device and that would have been easy. I call this baby Artificial Vocal Cords. It is all mechanical, no microphones speakers or recording of any kind just as you asked. As an extra bonus it doesn't need any batteries. It will work as long as you don't break it. I'll get you a backup too, but it's not fabricated yet."

Hatsume placed it in Izuku's hand which immediately swung to hold it in front of Hitoshi.

"Izuku," Hitoshi said, "what is this and what for?"

"She just told you what it is. Can't you figure out the rest?"

Hitoshi gave him a stern look but took the offered device.

"I should have known that giving me an extra quirk wasn't enough for you."

"Technically your father gave it to you. I just did the transfer."

"Sure, so how does it work?" Hitoshi asked and they both turned to look at Hatsume, just in time for a notebook to fly at Hitoshi's face at high speed. He reacted respectably fast, bringing his hands up to stop it, but Izuku was faster and caught it mid-flight long before it hit Hitoshi. Hatsume walked past them.

"I have to prepare for my exam. That has everything you need to know. If you need more babies you know who to call. Remember to bring your wallet!"

"Well," Hitoshi said, "that could be taken badly out of context."

Izuku, softly, slapped Hitoshi's forehead with the notebook before handing it over.

"It may be too late for the exams, but you should take a look and try it."

"Oh yeah, changing my voice totally works against robots." They stood in silence for a moment with Izuku meeting Hitoshi's eyes, refusing to yield until Hitoshi did, opening the notebook. "But I am curious to see how it works. Could help a lot later. You said it changes voices?"

"Yes, well if Hatsume made it like I asked it should mimic people's voices. Your quirk is too easy to avoid for people that know it, but I bet you can trick all kinds of people to talk with this, at least if you have to deal with groups."

"Oh Izu," Hitoshi said in a mocking tone, "you really do know me too well. I am going to have a lot of fun with this."

A shiver went through Izuku's spine as Hitoshi smirked straight at him.

"That's amazing," Eijiro said, loudly, having finally gotten his attention out of the book. "If you need help practicing with it…"

"I have plenty of volunteers."

Despite the approaching written exam Hitoshi started reading the instruction notebook and tinkering with the vocal cords.

Izuku smiled triumphantly while watching Hitoshi. He also got a glance at the notebook, admiring the clear notes and straight lines with very skilled hand-drawn pictures. Hatsume knew how to take notes. Hitoshi only put them away as they were already setting up in the exam room.

UA exams were fairly challenging, but Izuku wasn't worried, well not for his exam. It was a real struggle to not look back at Eijiro across the classroom, drilling that stone with his eyes. If all of Eijiro's absences were for physical training he might be at an actual risk with the written exam.

Hitoshi finished before Izuku at least, making him feel proud. Then again there might have been reason for it other than finding the exam easy. Hitoshi was already holding Hatsume's notebook before even getting out of the door. As Izuku finished and left he found Hitoshi leaning on the wall nearby. He had put the mask on, covering his face below his nose. Izuku really did not like the visual. People already treated Hitoshi like a villain.

Hitoshi raised his head to look at Izuku and brought a hand to the side of the mask.

"Can you talk about something?"

"Sure…" Izuku responded. "How did you feel about the exam?"

Hitoshi did not respond out loud having returned his attention to the instructions, but he waved his hand in a "keep going" gesture.

"I just hope the others do well. Eijiro especially looked pretty tense when I left. Maybe we should have made him study and not just train more, especially after I found he wasn't already doing that all the time he was away."

Hitoshi tinkered with small knobs on the sides of the mask. There were clicks audible between Izuku's words.

"You…" Hitoshi tried to speak. It came out as a voice that certainly wasn't his, but also no one else they knew, too distorted to pass for a human even.

Hitoshi read the instructions for a moment longer and then gestured Izuku to continue. Several other students left their exams in several classes while they kept at it, looking curiously at the strange duo, some only walking past at the opposite side of the corridor after recognizing them. It was good Hitoshi was too focused on the notebook to notice.

"You know he doesn't bite, usually," Hitoshi said in a voice that now at least sounded human and young enough it could have been their classmate.

Perhaps it had been too much to hope he didn't notice. The other students kept going, leaving them behind.

"You are getting close," Izuku encouraged. There were a few more clicks from the vocal cords.

"I wish," Hitoshi responded, and they both shut up.

"That was…" Izuku said.

"That was…" Hitoshi said, sounding like Izuku was repeating himself.

"That is impressive," Tenya said, coming from the classroom.

"It would be if it didn't take me half an hour to get right," Izuku responded, or at least it sounded like he did.

"It feels really strange listening to that," the real Izuku said.

"You tell me," fake Izuku responded. "It feels like I'm mute and you are reading my mind to speak for me. So, Tenya, do you think you'd be fooled by my Izuku voice?"

"If I wasn't looking at you, most definitely."

"Then it must be perfect." Hitoshi took the mask off and grinned. "If I could pretend to be Izuku for you here, tricking people in a fight should be easy."

"And now we can't trust anything we hear anymore," Izuku gave an exaggerated sigh. "At least promise to only use it for pranks on other people."

"No promises."

"I am regretting this already."

Hitoshi put the mask back on, speaking in Izuku's voice. "You should not keep giving people weapons they can use against you, unless you can trust them explicitly."

He did, as long as he kept lying to them. Hitoshi raised his hand as a sign he was going to do some theatrics.

"Remember the worst thing they can do is fail you, kick you out of the school and make you work at McDonalds. What they think doesn't matter to whether you are a real hero. I think you are."

Izuku stepped closer and brought his arm over Hitoshi's shoulder.

"Great motivational speech as always. That will surely inspire everyone you meet," he joked as a distraction, trying to imitate Hitoshi's voice, badly, without technological help. "Let's go get lunch."

"Okay," Hitoshi submitted, still in Izuku's voice. It was a familiar, yet odd tone of voice Izuku had not heard in a while. He rarely let himself give in as when using that tone.

Hitoshi raised a finger. "We should eat early so there is time to digest before the practical. We should not go into the exam with a full stomach."

"Take that thing off, also yes. That is a good point."

Hitoshi took the mask off.

"Fine, also thank you. You always get us the best toys. I'll add this next to the gas mask."

"Good… I should probably get more of those… I don't think it works with your vocal cords. Should ask Hatsume about that actually."

"I doubt that, but I haven't needed the gas mask yet."

Izuku was about to respond something about that, but Hitoshi brought the vocal cords closer to his mouth as a warning and Izuku dropped the matter. Soon Hitoshi returned to studying the notebook and Vocal Cords through lunch. When Eijiro showed up Hitoshi got him to talk about how the exam went, clicking plates in position through lunch until he was ready and put it on.

"Hey," he said in near perfect imitation of Eijiro, only missing the smile, "we all know how dedicated you are. I'm sure you did fine."

Eijiro stared at Hitoshi then pointed at him.

"That's so cool. It works for you perfectly."

"Of course it does. Izuku got it. Too bad it won't help with robots."

"I would not worry about that. If I can get through a written exam you can deal with some robots."

Hitoshi was not convinced. After lunch they headed to change into their costumes. After dressing up, Hitoshi pulled out a long capture weapon like Aizawa's he had trained with and put it around his head in a surprisingly good imitation of Aizawa.

"Hey Shinso," Kaminari called, "did you rob Aizawa?"

The accusation was playful and probably well intentioned, but Izuku's eyes twitched towards the guy for accusing Hitoshi specifically. Hitoshi himself showed no reaction.

"No, he lent me his spare until I can manage to get one for myself. I still can't do much with it, but I have to rush to get my own before Izuku-"

"Too late," Izuku said without turning towards him, "but they are late on delivery."

Hitoshi sighed, but did not complain. He moved to put the Vocal cords in his backpack, but stopped. He pulled on the capture weapon to shove them under it. He briefly met Izuku's eyes.

"It might be useless against robots, but I can at least get used to having it around."

Izuku nodded and they headed to a bus. Tenya kept giving hints at Izuku on how to lead people in as the class rep, but Izuku's "everyone, get in"-approach worked as well as every time before.

The tension in the bus could have been cut with a knife as it drove away towards the exam grounds. Hitoshi was sitting head down, but at least he was distracted by tinkering with the mask. Eijiro on the other side of the bus was fidgeting next to Shoto, unable to sit still. Izuku reached to tap his shoulder and got up. Eijiro quickly got the message.

They swapped seats. It was impossible for Hitoshi to stay down in that situation. It was like some of Eijiro's energy had transferred over as the redhead slowed down and focused on Hitoshi's new toy.

"He is very excited," Shoto said quietly.

"Tell me something new."

"I just realized this morning. I wasn't afraid of Endeavour when I slept last night, or the night before."

Izuku reached over Shoto's shoulder and slightly shook him.

"That is good. How has Ei been?"

"Ei… I guess now that you mention it, he feels more confident recently. I'm happy. I didn't like seeing him stressed so much, as if he wasn't strong enough, but now he seems stronger too, something about his hardening I think." Shoto lowered his head. "Sorry. Sometimes I almost judged him on that like I used to think about people's strength."

"You can recognize his strength, as long as it doesn't change his worth to you, especially his quirk. The rest of his strength is actually something that he earned and that tells something about him as a person."

"I guess," Shoto leaned past Izuku to check on the redhead who was focused on what Hitoshi was doing, "but I know many people with that kind of strength, none of them are the same."

"True."

And he was right about Eijiro seeming more confident, or at least less worried about being too weak or slow, but if that was the case why was there a nagging feeling at the back of Izuku's head? He was forgetting something.

For the rest of the drive they did not need further seat changes and time passed nicely while watching the others. Shoto even chuckled upon hearing two Eijiros talking to each other after Hitoshi got the settings right. Behind them Dark Shadow was pestering Tenya about something.

Unfortunately the bus soon arrived at the exam grounds and the class assembled outside in a somewhat coherent group, but to Tenya's agony not in ruler straight lines. A whole group of teachers arrived to meet them. Seeing Hitoshi and Aizawa with the same equipment at the same time was an extra strange experience.

"Now then," Aizawa said with his standard serious stare, "let's begin the last test. Remember it is possible to fail this final. If you want to go to camp don't make any stupid mistakes."

"Why are all the teacher's here?" Jiro asked.

"I expect many of you have gathered some information and have some idea of what you'll be faced with today."

'Called it,' Izuku could have said.

"We're fighting those big old metal robots!" Kaminari declared loudly, taking some strange pose that would have better fit a rock concert. Ashido joined the celebration. Izuku was more focused on how Aizawa's capture weapon started moving.

"Actually this year's test…"

Principal Nezu emerged from it.

"Will be completely different, for various reasons."

"You are changing things?" Yaoyorozu asked.

"The tests now have a new focus. There will be hero work of course, but also teamwork and combat between actual people."

Hitoshi seemed like he was going to celebrate like Kaminari before.

"So what does that mean for you? You students will be working together in pairs and your opponent will be one of our esteemed UA teachers. Isn't that fabulous."

It was interesting for sure. While most of the class was freaking out, Izuku stood a little straighter, scanning the assembled group of teachers pulling out mental notebooks on each of them and how to best fight had worked on contingencies in case he had to fight any of them, but doing so he had to recognize their superior experience regardless of any other factors.

"Additionally, your partners and your opponents have already been chosen," Azawa added. "They were determined at my discretion based on various factors including fighting style, grades, and interpersonal relationships."

Which meant Izuku wouldn't just need to be prepared to deal with any teacher, but any of his classmates, and he was fairly confident Aizawa had not picked pairs based on what Izuku would prefer to deal with.

Then Aizawa let them know the matchups."The matches will be…"

"Sato and Kirishima vs Cementos."

"Asui and Tokoyami vs Ectoplasm."

"Ida and Sero vs Power Loader."

"Todoroki and Yaoyorozu vs Aizawa."

"Uraraka and Aoyama vs Thirteen."

"Ashido and Kaminari vs Nezu."

"Koda and Jiro vs Present Mic."

"Hagakure and Shoji vs Snipe."

"Lastly, since we no longer have an even number of students, the final match will be done a bit differently. It will consist of Midoriya, Shinso and Ojiro, and they will be facing both Midnight and…"

A shadow appeared on the ground between students and teachers and Izuku's fighting instincts nearly lit the Dragon Blade before he held himself back. All Might landed in front of him with enough force to crack the concrete under his feet.

"I AM HERE, to test you!"

Even if Izuku was able to hold back his quirks, his hand was shaking and he was gritting his teeth so hard it might have activated his regeneration. Something wrapped around Izuku's arm, but looking up stopped his violent retaliation. Hitoshi holding his capture weapon, tilted his head to glance at him, but otherwise was standing casually as if he wasn't just holding back Izuku like an easily provoked dog on a leash.

All Might's serious stare broke and he leaned closer to Aizawa and Nezu.

"All You sure this is the most optimal grouping? Maybe…"

"No," Aizawa responded in a tone that did not give even the number one hero room to argue. "He'll have to learn to deal with his emotions if he intends to be a hero."

So that was it. But if they wanted to poke him and see where it goes, why had they gifted him Hitoshi as teammate, besides Ojiro that is?

"To complete the exam you have thirty minutes." Nezu pulled a pair of handcuffs from within Aizawa's capture weapon. Izuku glanced at Hitoshi. How many surprises could one hide under that thing? "To win, you have to put these handcuffs on your teacher, or you can win if one of you manages to escape from the combat stage."

The explanation led to a series of questions and instructions on the nature of the exam, especially the escape option.

"In instances where you are outmatched it would be smarter to run away and find help. Todoroki, Ida, Midoriya, Shinso, Kirishima, I am sure the five of you understand."

If they had been so outmatched Stain would not have a Nomu arm and he would not have felt it when All Might showed up in front of Izuku.

Then the teachers introduced the special ultra compressed weights, apparently made by Hatsume, they would be wearing on their arms and legs to give the students an advantage. As if half a body weight did anything to All Might even if he pretended it was heavy to put on.

"Any other questions?" Aizawa asked and Izuku raised his hand. "Yes?"

As he spoke Izuku stared at All Might.

"How much injury are we allowed to ca… risk on A… teacher?"

Aizawa rubbed his forehead giving an exaggerated sigh while Hitoshi pulled Izuku further away from the teachers.

But they never answered the question or set any formal limits on use of force, an amateur mistake.

"Your question brings out an important point," Nezu said, evading the question itself. He reached into Aizawa's capture weapon and pulled out a stack of papers and pens. "You are all required to read and sign these waivers recognizing this type of examination might lead to accidents or injury and you accept this risk."

"Seems someone has learned to be afraid of you, or at least your father's lawyers," Hitoshi whispered.

"Probably learned too late or they would have sent those to the parents," Izuku responded.

"Let's begin," Aizawa moved on after the papers were distributed. "The teams will take the practical exam in the order you were called. We have a stage prepared for you. Sato, Kirishima, you're up."

"Yes sir," the two responded at the same time.

"Those waiting for their fight can either watch the exam or strategize as a team. It is your choice. That's all."

Izuku yanked back at Hitoshi's capture weapon. Hitoshi did something and it let him go.

"Strategize?" Hitoshi asked. "Or you already got a plan."

"After others' fights, but at least that thing will be useful," Izuku pointed at the Vocal Cords, or at least to the capture weapon that hid them under it.

"More than I expected."

"Hey," Ojiro said. Izuku walked past him towards the viewing room. He tolerated the guy's presence in class, but with how he felt about Hitoshi especially he would have a better chance at beating All Might than being treated friendly by Izuku. Izuku should still consider the Tailman's presence, especially since they had to deal with two pros, even if the tail wouldn't do anything to All Might, maybe Midnight. If he wanted Hitoshi to catch All Might…

Izuku brushed his chin and might have muttered, just a little bit. Hitoshi had to yank his shoulder to pull him into the right room. Recovery Girl was there monitoring large screens, but the rest of the class seemed to take the exam seriously enough to focus on their own tactics.

"Well, looks like I have my work cut out for me today," Recovery Girl commented. The door opened again behind them.

"Oh Midriya, and Shinso," Uraraka commented as she entered with Ojiro coming in behind her. "You are watching too. Hi."

Izuku preferred to focus on his own thoughts on how to deal with the exam while waiting for Eijiro's match to start, muttering things to himself.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't hear that well," Uraraka said, coming closer.

"Don't mind him," Hitoshi said. "He's just having one of his thinking out loud moments. Better let him be until he comes up with plan that lets us pass against you know who."

"You mean All Might?"

The name cut Izuku's line of thought better than anything else she had said, making Izuku fall quiet.

"Well now you did it," Hitoshi sighed.

"Did what?"

She was slow to catch on.

"So did you already come up with tactics or just feeling confident? Your exam is pretty early, isn't it? Not like you have as much time to watch as us."

"It's not exactly that. My partner is a little occupied with himself. That's why I thought I'd try to get inspiration from everyone else's battles."

"That can be smart," Izuku interjected for the first time, "but remember they customized each match for those taking it. They are going to target your weaknesses, not the weaknesses of those you are watching."

"Oh look, he has returned back to us," Hitoshi snarked.

"If you are going to tease me at least do it with the right voice. I have an idea, but it won't work if you take the whole 30 minutes to make it work."

"On it. No pressure."

"You can do it."

"Well, at least it isn't robots."

An image of one of the exam grounds, another entire city of tall full-scale apartment buildings that could have housed thousands somehow built for nothing but hero training, opened on the main screen in front of them.

"Team Sato and Kirishima practical exam: Ready? Go!"