Chapter 82: Pairings

Continuing on, ignoring both the prominent fearful and determined, almost excited glares in the crowd, Aizawa continued.

"Here are the pairs and the teacher they'll face. The exact details of the exam will be communicated by the individual teacher."

His words brought down several hands while he sent a pensive look, dissuading any of the more inquisitive members of the class from asking anything else.

"First up, we have myself going against Todoroki and Yaoyorozu." His words got a nod and a contemplative expression from the two. "Moving on, Ayoyama and Uraraka vs. No. 13, Kaminari and Ashido vs. Principal Nezu—"

"Alright, we got this!"

"Yeah, hot springs, Here We GO!"

Continuing on with the little pity he felt for Nezu's opponents squashed, Aizawa read, "Hagakure and Jirou vs. President Mic, Ectoplasm vs. Tokoyami and Asui."

He took a breath, sucking in air as he gave an indiscernible look towards two people before reading, "Mineta and Sero vs. Midnight—"

"YEAH!" Unable to complete his words, Mineta burst into a fit of giggles after his shout, while Sero had a daydreaming expression on his face.

With his hands in a grabbing motion, Mineta ignored the world around him, imagining the feeling of those curvy, soft, but plump—

AHEM

The disappointing stare from not only his teacher but everyone in the area, save for the teacher herself, who only had an...Excited? Expression on her face, caused Mineta to reluctantly stop, though he couldn't hold back his fantasies.

'I'll use my balls to stick her to the ground, and when she can't move, I'll—'

"Iida and Ojiro vs. Powerloader, and Kirishima and Satou vs. Snipe." The tanky duo fist-bumped before each sizing up their opponent, looking very confident in their abilities.

"Bakugo and Midoriya vs. All Might, and lastly, there's Shimizu and Shoji vs. Cementos."

'Cementos, his ability to make concrete restricts Shoji in close range while may prove a nuisance to my far-range sniping, meaning I'll need to be on the constant move, alternating my positions while giving him no chance. This will be a battle of my coordination with Shoji and our combinations.'

He looked up to see the various expressions on his classmates' faces, from cocky to thoughtful to downright terrified, though that last one was only on Midoriya's face.

Suijin sent a consolatory thought towards the group, inwardly thankful that he didn't have to fight the number one.

'That matchup would be terrible; my abilities would do nothing more than pester him.'

He thought over the list, skimming through each matchup, trying to find a common factor in why they paired them up this way.

'It seems that there's no one reason for the matchups, but each aims to test something about the duo, some testing character while others test their ability to get over weakness, others focusing on combinations and adaptability, where there's a portion that tests will and grit.'

While scanning the group, Suijin couldn't help but send a look towards his pink-haired friend, spotting her idly chatting with Kaminari about their time at the summer camp, already disregarding the threat Principal Nezu would cause them.

The boy walked towards her, putting a hand on her shoulder to snap her out of her current daydream about the taste of s'mores from what he overheard.

"What's up, Suijin?" Kaminari's voice rang out from behind him.

Still keeping his hand on her shoulder, he looked towards the two, forgetting his entire speech and instead opting for a simple, "Just…be careful of the principal; he's more than he may seem."

"Psh, don't worry about it. He's super smart and everything, but come on, one zap from me or some of Mina's acid, and I don't believe that he could possibly stand up to us. He's just a rat!"

Several looks were sent their way as Kaminari said that last part a little too loudly, but they all went away, leaving their sympathetic looks with them.

Suijin, though, was focused on Mina's flinch from Kaminari's words about her quirk, but her slow shaking head muted his mouth.

Mina herself felt like Suijin's words should be taken seriously. After all, he had never steered her wrong before and was the entire reason she'd made it this far in the year with his constant help with her academics.

"I will." Seeing her serious nod, Suijin felt like a boulder was lifted off his shoulder as he hoped his words would truly get through to them.

"Shimizu and Shoji."

"Ashido and Kaminari."

Unfortunately for him, the teachers started calling the students over to the buses that would transport them to the various facilities where their test would be taken.

Thus, he couldn't do anything else but muster a tiny wave and a small 'smile' as he walked towards his bus, meeting up with Shoji.

Mina, on the other hand, was rooted in her spot as she watched the boy board the bus, still waving, though he wasn't looking her way.

"Mina, we have to go."

Kaminari's words snapped her out of her thoughts, and she noticed that, save for a few, most of their classmates had already boarded.

She turned around, walking towards Kaminari and their bus while offering words of apologies, but on her way, she happened to meet eyes with a certain red-framed woman.

With her tree-shaped hair cascading down her back, still in her provocative hero costume, the pro-hero Midnight sent a wink towards Mina as she turned around, swaying her hips as she entered her bus with the doors shut.

Mina's skin got a tad bit pinker, but the girl ignored that, choosing to blame the coming summer weather for the heat as she entered the door, sending a quick wave to their distracted principal, and sitting by herself in the back.

As the engine revved and they began to move towards their testing location, Mina couldn't help but think, 'Why is it so hot suddenly?'

Her mind replayed the scene, remembering the small innocent wave that held no ulterior motives and the small look of resignation yet happiness Suijin sent her.

She smiled internally, complimenting herself on her progress in dissecting [Suijinish], as she dubbed it.

Yet the look caused even more heat to rise to her cheeks, and the girl with her mind clouded couldn't help but think, 'Dork.'