15

2:23 PM, Tuesday

The large wall of ice outside of the bomb room was melted away just five seconds after the exercise ended. This was great for Izuku, who really didn't want to have to climb out the window and go down the long way.

But it did make him wonder- why did it take his powerful opponent so long to thaw out his own barrier? Was Todoroki's fire side super weak, or something?

Izuku stepped outside to see the dual-haired person in question, surprise practically leaking through the boy's blank expression and fingers twitching at his sides. He gave Todoroki a passing nod as they exited the frosty building, picking up a tied-up Koda and a dazed Ashido on the way together.

The four of them walked into the monitoring room to be met with stunned stares and satisfying silence. 

Clearly, most of the class hadn't expected Izuku and Koda to win. 

Ochako, however, didn't look the slightest bit surprised, throwing him a proud grin that was wide enough to reach her auburn-brown eyes and warm enough to bring Izuku's chilly skin back up to room temperature. He quirked his lips up at her in return, and somehow her smile widened further.

"Great match!" All Might boomed. "Now, students, who do you think the MVP of this match was?"

Yaoyorozu's hand shot up into the air. "Midoriya-san, of course. He came up with a simple yet efficient plan that took into account both his and his partner's abilities, then proceeded to capture the bomb and win his team the exercise."

She hesitated, eyes flicking to him and back. "Though, I must admit that his stunt at the end there was incredibly reckless. A fall like that could have easily resulted in serious injury if it weren't for that handhold-"

"I, uh, remembered that ledge was there from when I first saw the building, and with my gauntlets being able to hold on to it wasn't an issue," Izuku interjected quietly. "I knew both of those things before I jumped, so it wasn't reckless."

A five-story drop was dangerous, but he knew exactly how to fall to effectively absorb his impact and Recovery Girl's office was stationed only a few rooms away. So he might've broken something(probably his legs) if he did slip from the ledge, but he'd then be carried over to one of the best doctors in Japan and alright within no time.

If this exercise had been a real Villain situation, of course, there'd be no Recovery Girl on standby and no friendly ally to carry him to safety. But it wasn't a real Villain situation.

Aizawa narrowed his eyes. "I can tell you calculated the risk beforehand, Midoriya, and that was probably the most logical move you could've made. But as your teacher- please don't jump out of a five-story window over a practice exercise."

Ice slide out from every part of the hallway and stretched rapidly across the ceiling, floor, and walls like a contained glacier. And in the narrow hallway, there was no space to dodge an attack like that.

Izuku nodded. Not unless he had to.

Yaoyorozu cleared her throat and continued. "The other half of the Hero team, Koda, performed his role very well by locating the bomb and distracting Ashido. He cooperated well with Midoriya and showed effective teamwork in the initial ambush."

"The Villain team, on the other hand, didn't seem to show the same level of communication. While Todoroki's idea to split up wasn't a bad plan, no alternatives were suggested and all of their actions from then on were entirely separate."

"Ashido was wholly unprepared for an ambush, and as a result never returned in time to assist her teammate. Todoroki chose a great place to put the bomb and positioned himself well, but he failed to account for the building's exterior and as a result, lost the objective."

"So in conclusion," Yaoyorozu finished. "Midoriya is the MVP of this exercise."

Damn, that was almost a speech.

All Might coughed lightly. "...Ah yes, that is all correct! Thank you for the very thorough analysis, Young Yaoyorozu! Anything to add, Aizawa-san?"

"Don't underestimate your opponents next time, Todoroki," Eraserhead stated gruffly, eyes narrowed. 

The dual-haired boy didn't respond.

"...If that is all, then let's move on to the next match!"

Izuku settled in to watch the rest of the battles, analyzing the quirks on display as he learned more about his new classmates.

Ojiro was a martial artist with a tail that was very confident in his skills, firmly deciding to take on the Hero team by himself and leaving his partner- the invisible girl, Hagakure- to guard the bomb alone. He fought against both Iida and Tokoyami alone for a few minutes before he was soon overwhelmed by their powerful quirks- Tokoyami's Dark Shadow and Iida's engine-powered kicks both possessed an incredible amount of brute force that Ojiro simply wasn't equipped to deal with.

Hagakure's quirk gave her an invaluable advantage against her opponents, and in her sneak attack, she managed to wrap her capture tape around Tokoyami. But she wasn't nearly fast enough to also stop Iida from capturing the bomb.

Kaminari and Jirou made an interesting team with their interactions and personalities, seeming to have met each other before U.A. Both of them had useful quirks with decent offensive potential.

Unfortunately for them, however, they were up against two of the most level-headed members of their class. Yaoyorozu had a defensive plan to counter both of their quirks well before the start was even called(Izuku could barely hide a wince when the girl pulled out two sets of special earmuffs, rubber boots, and what looked like an insulated blanket) and Asui turned out to be quite skilled at hand-to-hand combat. 

The result? Jirou's sound blasts barely affected her opponents before she was promptly knocked out by a rather spectacular dropkick, and Kaminari used every volt of electricity he had in one go only to barely scratch Yaoyorozu's blanket and fry his own brain. 

Izuku didn't know what the blonde was expecting- that was possibly the single worst way to use his quirk in battle. It left him completely useless and caused uncontrollable damage to enemies, allies, and surroundings alike. Had he not practiced control at all in the past decade he'd had his abilities? 

"And next up, Bakugou as the sole Hero versus Aoyama and Sato as the Villains!"

"Sensei!" Iida protested immediately, chopping through the air with his hands. "Is this matchup not unfair? It's two against one!"

Now that there were only nineteen people in the class, one team had to end up with a member short. Missing a teammate would be a huge disadvantage for anybody.

Izuku glanced over to see Katsuki's face twist into a wide, vicious grin.

Anybody but Katsuki, of course- the great 'protagonist' who never wanted to take help from anyone.

They watched Katsuki dash into the building as soon as the planning period ended, his red eyes bright. Ochako turned to him.

"Who do you think's gonna win this one, Izuku-kun?" 

"Katsuki," Izuku answered simply. 

"Even one on two?"

"Mhm. I don't know much about Sato or Aoyama, but neither of their quirks have the potential to really overwhelm him. Also, Sato's intelligence decreases rapidly the more he uses his quirk and Aoyama's stomach hurts the more he uses his, while Katsuki's Explosion only gets stronger the longer he fights."

"Excuse me," Yaoyorozu spoke up, curious. "But how exactly do you know what all of their quirks and drawbacks are? I do not recall witnessing Sato's quirk even once during the apprehension test."

"Don't worry about it!" Ochako told her brightly. "Izuku-kun just knows these things."

"...That statement only serves to worry me more, Uraraka-san."

On-screen Katsuki rapidly made his way through the building, propelling himself forward with small blasts from his palms. A quick glance was all he needed to confirm that each room was bombless before he moved on to the next one, and with every empty floor the blonde passed he only seemed to get more pissed off. 

Meanwhile, Sato and Aoyama waited inside the bomb room together, tense and ready. There was a clump of sugar in Sato's hands and a bit of blue light already visible on Aoyama's belt. Izuku had seen him casually destroy some villain bots with that laser at the exam, so it must pack quite a decent punch.

"So they chose to stick together," Yaoyorozu observed. "That's a good decision with their higher numbers, but battling the hero in the bomb room is still very risky- especially when the said hero has considerable mobility. If Bakugou touches the bomb even once, they'll lose the match."

"Normally, you'd be right," Izuku said. "But Katsuki doesn't actually care about the exercise at all. He's just looking for a fight." 

"...If that's true, he must be very narrow-minded indeed. And about that, I cannot help but notice that you keep calling him by his given name," Yaoyorozu stated. "Are you two friends, Midoriya-san?"

"No, we aren't," Izuku couldn't help the way his lips tugged into a frown. "We grew up in the same neighborhood, though, and our moms are on pretty good terms."

Katsuki finally found the bomb room and burst in with a fierce glare, smoke rising off his palms. It made for a fairly terrifying sight, and the people who hadn't seen the blonde angry before- everyone but Izuku and Ochako- seemed to freeze in place. 

Red eyes scanned the room and found the paper mache bomb in the center- only to proceed to ignore it entirely in favor of the two 'Villains' of the exercise. Katsuki charged right past the objective like it wasn't even there and lunged at his targets.

"See?" 

Yaoyorozu didn't reply, still staring at the screen in utter disbelief. 

"But-but why? The bomb is right there!"

Ochako snorted next to him. 

Aoyama got his wits back first, firing off a blue beam from his belt- only for Katsuki to twist in mid-air and dodge it effortlessly, striking out in the next instant. An explosion slammed into Aoyama's chest plate, fiery orange glinting off his visor as he was thrown back into the wall. 

Sato leaped in to help, muscles straining through his hero costume and already buffed up on sugar. His first punch was stopped short by one of Katsuki's grenade-like gauntlets- creating several cracks in the metal- and the second sailed harmlessly over the blonde's head as he ducked under it. 

Katsuki's fist shot up into Sato's jaw in an uppercut that whipped the taller boy's head back. Bulky arms sluggishly reached out for a counter- only to grab at nothing but empty air as Katsuki propelled himself up and over him with a series of aerial blasts and drove an explosive palm into his open back.

Izuku couldn't help but wince, knowing exactly how much that must've hurt.

Sato stumbled forward, dazed, and barely turned around in time to block a violent barrage of explosions. The fabric around his crossed arms burned away little by little under the unrelenting assault.

Katsuki's grin widened.

"Bakugou's really running circles around them, huh?" Ochako commented.

"He certainly is," Yaoyorozu agreed, sounding impressed despite herself. "Though he is brash and arrogant, his reflexes and combat prowess are simply undeniable."

Aoyama recovered in time to save his teammate, catching Katsuki in the side with a laser beam and knocking him away from poor Sato. Katsuki landed on his side and rolled- right by the bomb, once again- into a crouch, shouting something with a snarl. Aoyama responded with another beam, this time clipping the angry blonde's ear. 

Katsuki dove in close and took on both 'Villains' at once, dodging and blasting fiercely. He took an enhanced punch from Sato and threw two back in return, twisting around to keep Aoyama in his sights. He seemed to be targeting that 'Villain' in particular, likely tired of his ranged attacks.

Aoyama was surprisingly agile, sliding out of the other blonde's reaches and blows with grace and a smirk. He was still wearing his huge red visor and seemed to be getting more and more confident the longer he dodged-

Then Katsuki finally caught the escaping boy's too-long cape in his grasp, and Aoyama's eyes went wide.

And that was why neither Izuku nor Ochako had capes on their costumes.

"Aoyama has been knocked unconscious and eliminated from the match!" All Might announced a second later, his voice a touch confused- probably wondering why Katsuki was still beating up his classmates instead of winning the exercise.

Izuku watched Sato fall roughly thirty seconds afterward next to the completely forgotten paper-mache bomb, unable to hold off his opponent alone. 

That was just the kind of person Katsuki was.

Izuku and Ochako had designed their costumes together over the course of a single afternoon, high on mochi and excitement. 

She was way better at the whole aesthetic thing than he was(apparently, wearing comfy t-shirts that said stuff like 't-shirt' and 'student' on them meant that Izuku had 'horrible fashion sense') and combined with his ridiculous attention to detail they had the skill to create two great designs.

Her costume had a similar color scheme to his- full black with colored highlights, the emerald green replaced with a nice light pink that mimicked the glow of Zero Gravity- and was made out of the same protective fabric. Her boots were geared towards landings and absorbing impact, giving them a lot of stomping potential. 

She had open-fingered gloves along with special wrist guards that fired miniature grappling hooks, and several pink accessories all over her costume that pressed into her pressure points to reduce her nausea. They also gave her a bit of that astronaut vibe she loved so much.

"For our last match, everyone," All Might boomed. "We have Kirishima and Shoji as the Heroes versus Uraraka and Sero as the Villains!" 

Sero was the boy with interesting-looking elbows and a tape quirk- not the strongest offensive-wise, but more than useful in an exercise with capture as a win condition. He seemed nice enough, listening attentively to Ochako as she described her plan. Her open hands gestured wildly as she spoke in the way she always did, and Izuku could almost imagine her voice at the sight.

Outside, the Hero team seemed to have settled on a frontal assault. Kirishima punched his palm with a grin as he stood next to a stoic Shoji.

"And begin!"

Ochako stepped out of the bomb room and Kirishima and Shoji immediately headed off into the building. Meanwhile, Sero started drawing long lines of tape in the space around the objective. Within minutes, he had a giant, white web to trap any approaching 'Heroes'.

The paper mache bomb itself floated up, higher and higher until it was now resting comfortably on the ceiling. 

Ochako glowed a bright pink as she activated her quirk on herself. A single jump took her a decent stretch across the hallway before she kicked off a wall to propel herself farther, then another to go even farther. Soon she was flying through the building at high speeds, changing direction and accelerating with sharp twists and pushes.

Ochako was easily one of the most mobile members of their class inside an enclosed space like this. And with a ten-minute exercise, she didn't even have to worry about overusing her quirk.

"Uraraka-chan's so damn fast!" Ashido exclaimed. "I wish I could bounce around like that!"

Asui tilted her head. "Don't you have your acid surfing thing, kero?"

"It just isn't the same, Tsu-chan!"

Ochako made her way down the floors as Kirishima and Shoji made their way up, both forces set to collide in the middle.

With Shoji's additional ears(and wow, was Izuku curious about the biology behind those) the Heroes would be able to find the bomb incredibly easily. And unlike Bakugou, Kirishima and Shoji were reasonable opponents that actually cared about completing their objective. 

So Ochako needed to greatly slow down or stop their opposition before they got near the bomb room if her team was going to have a chance of winning the exercise. 

A blur of black and pink turned into a long corridor just as a rocky redhead and masked man stepped into view on the other side. Both teams caught sight of the other in the same, frozen moment.

Ochako moved first.

Kirishima ducked, his mouth open wide in an exclamation as dangling fingers just missed his spiky hair. Shoji reached for Ochako's airborne form a beat too late, grabbing at nothing but air as she flew past them. 

Ochako pressed her fingertips together and lost her pink glow, dropping to the ground in a smooth roll and whirling back to face her opponents in a crouch. Her lips curved up into a ready grin.

Kirishima rushed at her with a similar expression on his face, his quirk active over his entire upper body. His skin was sharp, jagged edges visible even through the camera. 

He swung for her face, overextending a noticeable amount. Ochako sidestepped the attack, grabbing the hardened arm with both hands to make him weightless before turning with the momentum to throw the poor boy over her shoulder and slam him down behind her. The floor cracked under the impact.

A collective wince went through the monitoring room. 

Kirishima floated up a second later, dazed, confused, and suspended in mid-air.

Shoji seemed far warier now that his teammate had been subdued so easily, making use of his impressive reach to keep Ochako away. His many arms lashed out at her in a burst of powerful punches.

Yet it wasn't enough. 

Ochako's smaller form weaved through the storm of fists, deflecting everything she couldn't dodge off her wrist guards. The grin on her face never faded as Shoji was forced to take one step back, then another, and then another. He seemed to be frantically tracking her palms, likely realizing that if she got even a slap off him he'd be just as weightless as his poor partner.

But there was no way for him to escape, so it was all he could do to fend her off for another dozen seconds before she finally landed a palm strike on his chest. The attack barely did any damage, but it forcibly lifted the tall boy into the air and let Ochako smoothly wrap her capture tape around his main arms before he could react.

"Shoji has been captured and eliminated from the match!"

Then, Ochako stepped over to a still-floating Kirishima(who was now looking dizzy and very annoyed) and looped the tape around him as well. All Might announced the end of the exercise as she released both members of the Hero team, letting them fall to the floor in a heap. 

2:47 PM, Tuesday

Ochako strode confidently back into the monitoring room, basking in the glow of a flawless victory. She scanned the room seeing Izuku and bounding over. He flashed her a happy thumbs-up and she beamed back at him.

She seemed to be experiencing a decent bit of nausea, only visible in the minuscule wobble in her step- floating a hardened Kirishima and the large Shoji at the same time must've been a lot of stress on her quirk. He made a mental note to ask his mother to adjust dinner a little.

"Obviously, the MVP of this exercise is Uraraka," Yaoyorozu stated, tapping a finger against her chin. "She constructed an effective plan to defend the bomb and then quickly captured both of her opponents."

Sero nodded, a little put-out. "Yeah, no complaints here- she totally carried me. Honestly, I sorta wish I'd gotten the chance to do more than stand there..."

"Do not fret, Sero-san!" Iida said. "You performed your role in this exercise admirably and set up quite the wonderful trap. And according to my esteemed brother, a pro hero who can reliably defend an objective is invaluable to hero operations!"

"Oh. Thanks, Iida."

"No problem!"

"You are exactly right, Young Yaoyorozu!" All Might grinned. "Young Uraraka calmly looked at the situation and defeated two power-focused combatants with great efficiency! Take this as a lesson, students- touch-based quirks are very troublesome to face in close combat!"

"Especially you, Kirishima," Aizawa suddenly said, and the redhead jumped. "I get that you're a brawler, but rushing in recklessly can get you killed out in the field."

"Sorry, Sensei!" 

When Aizawa didn't say anything else, All Might continued. 

"With that, students, you are all dismissed! Make sure you remember what you have learned today and to pack your hero costumes into your cases before you leave!"

5:10 PM, Tuesday

Izuku turned at the sound of soft footsteps, hearing them easily in the nearly silent park.

"Hey, Yagi-san."

"Oh, it's Yagi-san!"

Yagi waved, sinking into the wooden bench next to them. "Good evening, Young Midoriya, Young Uraraka."

The loud and confident Symbol of Peace that had taught them just hours before was now the quiet, slightly awkward skeleton that they knew once again. It was a shift that Izuku was still getting used to.

"I called you two here to uh, ask how my first class went," Yagi rubbed the back of his neck, sheepish. "Honest opinions, please."

"Not too bad," Ochako said. "I mean, it was a bit too much for the first day- that bomb scenario was like something you'd see in a movie! But it was very Plus Ultra, and you did get Eraserhead to sign off on it first."

Yagi nodded. "Surprisingly, he was in favor of the exercise when I explained the details and my safety precautions. I think that as long as you all are physically safe, Aizawa has zero issues with throwing your class into the deep end."

Ochako shivered.

"You personally picked out the teams, right?" Izuku stated. "Why did you set me and Koji up against Todoroki and Ashido?"

Yagi chuckled. "I should have known that you'd realize that they weren't random. People with incredibly powerful, overwhelming offensive quirks are your greatest weakness, Young Midoriya, so I wanted you to have a chance to fight an opponent like that. And, well, from what little I know about you and Young Bakugou's shared history-"

"Pairing us up against each other wasn't a good idea."

"-Exactly."

"That all sorta sounded like favoritism, Yagi-san," Ochako commented. 

Yagi smiled. "Did it now? The way I see it, I was simply ensuring that my students had good matches." 

"Fair enough," Izuku hummed. "Any luck finding a successor yet?"

"I think so. Sir Nighteye called me the other day-"

"Oh, the ex-boyfriend?" Ochako interjected.

"-and said that he has someone in mind for me to meet. I trust his judgment, and the person he chooses will surely be worthy of my sacred torch."

Izuku opened his mouth, then closed it.

Yagi said that he and Sir Nighteye had fallen out of touch because of a sensitive, personal issue and opinions on All Might's future- so at least a large part of their separation was about One for All's legacy. Izuku didn't have any right to step in there, but-

"You aren't going to offer One for All to this person just because Nighteye thinks they're worthy of it, right?"

Yagi blinked. "Huh?"

"I m-mean, the way you phrased that is a little weird when you haven't even met this hero yet," Izuku said, quietly. "It's your quirk, isn't it? I trust your judgment, and Nighteye should too."

"...You're right. Thank you, Young Midoriya."

"No problem, Yagi-san."

Notes:

Just imagine trying to fight someone only to get tapped once and boom- you're stuck and floating there helplessly. Hilarious.

I think you all know what the next chapter is.