Izuku Midoriya stood in a featureless room.

The room was completely closed off except for a glass wall, where researchers in white lab coats sat on the other side. They watched him, very much akin to onlookers in a zoo staring at some rare beast, and wordlessly gave him a signal to start.

Remember what he said, Izuku reminded himself. Assign a feeling to the activation of a Quirk.

With a tug on his gut, the palm of Izuku's hands split open. A torrent of water was summoned and begun spilling out from the opening in his hands, splashing about carelessly. The point of this exercise was to see how long Izuku could maintain a constant stream of water, so he didn't try to push himself to conjure more; rather, he took deep breaths and tried maintaining his consistency.

As loath as he was to make this connection, Izuku had to admit that it felt the same as using the toilet. Just… from his hands. It was a bit hard to describe—the important thing was that he could feel his supply draining, and it took a lot of effort to summon the final spurts of water within him. Ultimately, the stream from his hands petered out and nothing would come out, no matter how hard he tried.

"Two minutes and fourteen seconds," his sensei said from within the room. "A slight improvement from last time. Good job."

That little bit of praise was all it took for Izuku to light up like a Christmas tree. "Thanks, sensei!"

The faceless man grinned, putting a large hand on Izuku's head. "We don't know much about that Quirk, and a lot of its nuances are a mystery to us. Where does the water come from? Is it stored, or is it like a muscle that can be trained? We have no idea, so I'm glad that you can help us with it."

Izuku nodded happily as he looked down at his hands. They were torn open in the middle, but Izuku simply visualized reconstructing and the wounds closed unnaturally. His sensei watched the process from the side, smiling at the ease in which Izuku used his Quirk.

His masterpiece was progressing smoothly.

As they walked out of the testing room, he asked the child, "So, Izuku. How are you planning on spending the rest of your day?"

Izuku held a finger against his chin. "Probably going to go see my friend. For some reason, she gets upset if I don't check in on her often, so I'm swinging by to say hi."

"Ah, Himiko Toga," the older man said, remembering her name. He only really remembered her because of Izuku's peculiar friendship and partnership with the young girl, but he was glad that his subjects were getting along well with each other. Interpersonal connections could be utilized to make a person obey, but he did not see that problem occurring with Izuku. "Please continue being good friends with her."

"Yep," Izuku nodded. Then, a bit shyly: "I think she's my first girl friend."

All For One grinned and decided to tease the boy a bit. "Girl friend or girlfriend?"

"Is there a difference?"

As Izuku's big innocent eyes blinked up at him, All For One realized that he was fully about to explain the difference between platonic and romantic relationships to a prepubescent boy.

Ah, well, he didn't have anything else on his schedule.

---

Unbreakable

Inter-Class War

---

Looking at the map provided to them by the teachers, Izuku outlined the plan for his classmates.

They had five hours to retrieve the flag, which was frankly quite a lot of time given the relatively small size of the exam grounds, but the defending team could place it wherever they wanted to. Thus, the advantage for the offensive team was the limited space, while the advantage for the defensive team was that the other team did not know where they were going to put the flag.

The exam simulated a real-world scenario where one team had to retrieve valuable intel in a raid. As such, Izuku, after consulting with Tenya and Momo, decided to split the operation into two parts: data gathering and flag retrieval.

"For the first phase, data gathering, we'll operate on two levels," Izuku said, facing his gathered classmates.

He pointed at three locations on the provided map that had been circled by Tenya. The battlefield, this time, was an urban one, similar to the one used for the entrance exam. "These are three locations that would make the most sense to put their flag," Tenya supplied.

"Right," Izuku continued. "Because the defenders aren't allowed to start out further than half a kilometer away from their flag, we can assume that, at the beginning, the vast majority of noise and human traffic will be right around where the flag is. Jiro and Koda—"

Katsuki interrupted, "Hurry up and tell us what the plan is."

Izuku sighed, deciding to humor his tempestuous classmate. "We travel as a group. Those with high mobility can scout ahead for traps, but you must remain within eyesight. Ashido, Asui, Iida, Sero, and Kacchan, this task will fall onto the five of you. Really, your job is to bait out any traps that 1-B might have set for us. The real reconnaissance will be done by Koda with his animals and Jiro with her hearing."

A few of the gathered classmates nodded, seeing where Izuku was going with his plan—have the five high mobility Quirk users act cas decoys while the main sleuthing is done by Koji and Kyoka as they are protected by the rest of the class.

"I will provide you all with ear pieces that we'll use to communicate with each other," Momo said.

As she started making the equipment from her hands, Izuku informed the group, "Koda, Jiro, when you two find something that looks suspicious, let us know. Since I can't be certain what exactly we'll find out there, we'll adapt as the situation calls for it."

After hearing his classmates agree, Izuku allowed Momo to go over the logistics regarding the operation: chains of command and squads. From an extended perspective, Izuku was the commander, and if anything happened to him, Momo would step up to the plate. If both Izuku and Momo were down, then Tenya was up; if he fell, then Ochaco.

"When we have discerned the location of their flag, we will begin attacking the site in earnest," Tenya said. "Todoroki, this is the part where you will shine. We will use ice to split and divide them up."

Shoto nodded, and as they went over tasks and assignments, the allotted two hours of preparation slowly whittled away. Soon, the clock was about to hit noon, and they changed into their uniforms for the exam and were escorted by Power Loader to the training grounds: Ground Gamma.

Structurally, it was similar to Ground Beta, where the entrance exam was held. However, it was more of an industrial site than Ground Beta's civilian landscape, with narrow corridors and exposed pipes. From his limited viewpoint, Izuku could see tons of heavy machinery dotting the facility's grounds. It was truly a labyrinth.

He expected a maze-like design from the map, but seeing it in person hammered home the cramped nature of the training ground. "It'll be tough for us if we move slowly," Izuku told the group, "so we'll have to move fast and get started right away."

His classmates nodded. A few of them seemed pale, nervous about this upcoming exam, whereas some others were fired up and ready to brawl. Izuku spotted Momo rubbing circles into Ochaco's back and smiled at the sight.

"Let's have the scouting team move further ahead than the main group," Tenya suggested. "Then, we can have another group in between the scouts and the main group to maintain backup."

Izuku nodded. It would be riskier to have the scouts move further away, but with how cramped this place was, that might end up becoming a necessity. "Let's do that. Tokoyami, Ojiro, Uraraka, and Kaminari, you four come with me. We'll be on backup duty. For the rest of you, listen to Momo. Todoroki, if you guys get ambushed, form an ice barrier and contact us immediately."

Shoto nodded, and Izuku missed the wiggling eyebrows that Mina sent Momo's way. Power Loader walked over to where they were gathered and asked, "Are you ready?"

"IT DON'T MATTER IF THEY ARE OR ARE NOT!" Present Mic's voice boomed over the audio devices installed in the training grounds. His voice was excruciatingly loud, acting very much like a shock of thunder. "BEGIN, RIGHT NOW!"

Ignoring the ringing in his ears, Izuku nodded at their classmates, and the first round of the exam officially began in earnest.

Running into the labyrinth after the gates shut behind them, Izuku was immediately wary of any traps the Class 1-B might have prepared at the onset, but it eventually became clear that there were no traps and no ambushes for them right at the beginning. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Koji send off a few pigeons and Kyoka stick her earphone jacks into the ground.

A few beats of silence passed, heightening the nerves of some of the members of Class 1-A. Izuku remained calm and breathed slowly, waiting patiently for a signal from Kyoka or Koji.

"Up and to the right," Kyoka said suddenly, focusing her hearing. "Sounds like… three hundred meters away. Four speaking, could be more if people are staying silent. They're talking about—"

She suddenly ripped her earphone jacks out of the ground, face dyed crimson.

"Well?" Denki inquired. "What were they talking about?"

Kyoka glowered at him, causing him to shrink back. All she had to say was, "Boys are disgusting creatures." Those with especially sharp eyes might have noticed the look of despair that Kyoka had on her face after she snuck a glance at Momo's chest and then at her own comparatively meager assets.

A pigeon came back to Koji and pecked his cheek gently five times. "Make that five," he said.

Izuku nodded and turned towards Katsuki, who looked like he was itching to fight. He gave him a wordless thumbs up, and with a blast, Katsuki rocketed off. Mina, Tsuyu, Tenya, and Hanta quickly followed after him, yelling at him to slow down. Izuku quickly said, "Tokoyami, Ojiro, Uraraka, and Kaminari, let's follow them. Momo, have Jiro and Koda continue gathering intel, but don't linger for too long. I don't want us to get too split up."

Seeing Momo nod, Izuku and the backup squad hurried after the scouting squad. They followed the echoing blast sounds and a trail of Mina's acid until they arrived at the site of the battle. It was hard to see clearly due to Katsuki's blasts of fire and resulting smoke, and the surroundings were cramped. The fighting took place in only a single alley, but while it was narrow, there was a lot of verticality.

"Green and Yellow spotted!" Izuku heard some from Class 1-B shout. Upon closer inspection, he saw large blades protruding from the hero-in-training, meaning that he was likely Togaru Kamakiri. "I repeat, Green and Yellow spotted!"

He was forced onto the defensive by Tenya, who pressed the opportunity as Togaru was speaking. Suddenly, their combat was interrupted by Tsuyu, who used her tongue to fling Tenya to the side. Right as she did so, horns pierced the ground where Teyna was moments before.

"K-Kamakiri!" A small blonde girl squeaked, landing beside him. "Be careful!"

"Nice save, Tsunotori!" Togaru gave her a thumbs up.

A blast resounded from the space above them. From beyond the smoke, Class 1-B's Kosei Tsuburaba emerged. "We gotta get out of here. Bakugo is batshit insane."

Right on cue, the glow of an impending explosion appeared above them. Kosei quickly exhaled air from his lungs like his life depended on it, solidifying it into an impromptu barrier and partially blocking Katsuki's blast. It shattered, blowing Togaru, Pony, and Kosei back.

Katsuki landed on the ground before them. As he was pointing his hand at the three, Neito appeared from around the corner, pointed a finger gun at Katsuki, and uttered a single word: "Bang."

An explosion appeared where Katsuki was standing. Fortunately, he was saved in the nick of time by both Izuku and Tsuyu extending Blackwhip and her tongue, flinging him back. Mina appeared, panting. "Monoma and Kuroiro have disappeared!"

Katsuki fired back, "Monoma's right here, you idiot—"

"Hey, asshole, how am I supposed to know that?"

During their bickering, a dark green flare and a yellow flare was shot up into the sky by Neito. After that, he shouted, "Pssshhhhhhht!"

A thick smokescreen covered the narrow alley. Katsuki growled at Mina before firing off a devastating blast, but when the smoke cleared, there was no one to be seen. Katsuki's hands sparked, eager to pick up the chase, but Izuku held him back. "Careful. It could be a trap."

A voice buzzed into their ears. "There's a group of ten up ahead," Koji said. "The group of five that you were all fighting fell back to another group of five. I see Shiozaki and Shishida. Over."

Izuku nodded, turning his gaze towards the corridor that the group disappeared down into. So that meant Jurota and Ibara were there as well, which implied that their—wait a minute. "Who was their fifth?"

Mina answered for him. "The shadow guy—Kuroiro."

"Did you guys see him?" Izuku asked Katsuki, Tsuyu, and Tenya, and all three shook their heads. Hanta swung around the corner, landing beside the other nine gathered heroes.

"Wait, we have ten," Katsuki said, excitement glittering in his eyes. "Our ten versus their ten. No way we don't come out on top."

Izuku looked around at his classmates: Katsuki, Mina, Tsuyu, Hanta, Tenya, Fumikage, Mashirao, Ochaco, Denki, and Izuku. That was a pretty stacked lineup, but Izuku did not know what the potential of their opponent was. Ibara's vines would be a pain to deal with in such a cramped corridor, and Jurota would surely be a force to be reckoned with. It was best to—IN FRONT OF YOU!

Izuku listened to the voice screaming at him and instantly spun, delivering a kick to whatever was in front of him and using Blackwhip to safely retreat. He felt his blow connect with something and heard his classmates' panicked cries. When he turned around, Katsuki had already taken the attacker out with a blast to the chest while he was stunned by Izuku's kick.

"Your reaction time is fast as fuck, bro," Denki remarked, kneeling over his frozen assailant. Shihai laid there, body frozen into an extremely uncomfortable-looking angle by his uniform. His cheek was starting to get swollen from where Izuku kicked him, but otherwise, the uniform protected him from the vast majority of Katsuki's blast.

"I'm sorry—what just happened?" Ochaco asked, still bewildered.

"He jumped out of the darkness within us all," Fumikage answered cryptically.

Ochaco turned towards Tenya for an explanation. "It seems that," he said, "Kuroiro jumped out of this pipe to sneak attack Midoriya."

"Man, I told Monoma it wouldn't work, too," Shihai complained despondently. "Now look at me. Uncomfortable and the first one out. Midoriya won't react in time, he said. There's no way, he said. No way my fucking ass—"

"Let's go," Katsuki said, pointing in the direction that Neito's group retreated down. "Nine verse ten. We clean house."

It was an undeniable numerical advantage. They should press the advantage before any reinforcements show up. Pressing down on his ear piece, Izuku said, "We are giving chase. Follow Mina's marks quickly and notify us if anyone from their class is coming as reinforcements, over."

"Roger that, over," Momo's voice echoed in his ear.

"Be careful," he warned Katsuki, but the boy snorted and rocketed off. Tsuyu leapt after him, with Mina, Tenya, and Hanta following soon after. The rest of the backup squad looked at Izuku, and he sent them off with a nod.

As he followed them, he decided to send a string of Blackwhip to hoist himself up to the upper levels of the path. Maintaining a bird's-eye view, Izuku followed his classmates, and soon, he stumbled upon the field of battle. This time, rather than a narrow corridor, his classmates were fighting Class 1-B in a relatively open plaza.

Explosions courtesy of Katsuki rang out, covering half of the plaza in thick smoke. The explosions were partially being deflected by Kosei's Solid Air, but Kosei looked blue in the face while Katsuki looked like he was just getting started. On the other half of the plaza, Tenya and Mina were locked in combat with Jurota, his massive stature dwarfing even the tall Tenya.

His other classmates were engaged in battle, as well. Denki and Fumikage were duking it out against Itsuka and Sen, but it was proving to be a tough battle. Itsuka's Big Fist was completely neutralizing the reach of Fumikage's Dark Shadow, and Denki was barely able to keep up with Sen's Gyrate in close quarters, only able to keep him at bay with his electrified body.

"Ojiro, help me out over here!" Denki cried, dodging like his life depended on it. "You're a better match up against this guy."

Mashirao heard his cry for aid and immediately hopped over. "You've gotta help Uraraka then!"

"On it!" Denki immediately turned towards Mashirao and Ochaco's opponent, Hiryu, and tried firing electricity at him. All he received for his efforts were a flurry of high velocity scales and a pained shriek from Ochaco. Fighting through the pain of being electrocuted by an ally, Ochaco saved Denki from elimination by tapping him and kicking him away. Denki went flying a comical distance before Ochaco deactivated her Quirk, causing him to fall and bounce painfully. Ochaco, however, did not come out of it unscathed—a few of the scales clipped her back, and she fell over from the force of the attack. Fortunately, the tough suit prevented her from being cut up by the scales, but there was no doubt that it would leave a bruise if not treated by Recovery Girl.

As Hiryu went in to finish Ochaco off, Izuku swung down from his perch and kicked him with his full momentum. As Hiryu went flying from the unexpected attack, he knelt before Ochaco, asking, "Are you alright?"

Wincing a bit, she nevertheless nodded, before her eyes widened. "Midoriya—"

BEHIND YOU!

Izuku turned his head and saw a massive amount of scales flying towards them. Without a doubt, Hiryu had pushed his Quirk Scales to his utmost limits when he saw Izuku, but he was not afraid even in the face of dozens upon dozens of flying projectiles.

Electromagneta activated, reflecting the projectiles back in random, haphazard directions. Not expecting the deflection, Hiryu formed scales on his arms and tried covering his blue circle with them. He was buffeted by the onslaught, but the scale armor he created was sufficient in protecting his core. When the onslaught stopped, he cried out, "Midoriya… did you just reflect my scales?"

Ignoring how distraught Hiryu looked and Ochaco's slightly flushed face, Izuku shot a strand of Blackwhip directly at Hiryu. With a yelp, he tried dodging, only to be caught by two more strands that followed after the first. "Just what is your Quirk, dude?"

Without answering, Izuku retracted the strands and leapt forward, swinging for the blue core on Hiryu's chest. Once again, Hiryu went on the complete defensive, covering his blue circle with both arms covered in scales. Izuku's blow—one without enhancement from One For All, at a level even weaker than Safe mode—cracked some of the scales on his arm but was ultimately unsuccessful in eliminating Hiryu.

"Monoma! Help me out, please," Hiryu called, but the man was nowhere to be found. Izuku received a point-blank volley of scales from a desperate Hiryu, but he just imagined opposites and sent them right back to sender. Buffeted by his own scales, Hiryu was helpless as Izuku pried open his hands with brute force and Ochaco shattered the blue circle with a well aimed punch. As his suit began to rapidly harden and constrict his movements, Izuku let Hiryu down gently and flashed a thumbs up at Ochaco.

Meanwhile, Denki had gotten himself trapped in a ball of vines from Ibara. Although Izuku couldn't see the vine woman anywhere with all the smoke obscuring the battlefield, she definitely made her presence known, causing the ball to shrink and begin to suffocate Denki. Flashes of light appeared from the cracks within the vines, signaling that Denki was trying his utmost hardest to zap his way out, but the vines must have been insulated, for there was no effect. Eventually, the ball of vines loosened up, and out popped a frozen Denki with a shattered blue circle.

Izuku almost laughed. One thought rang through all of the students who witnessed Denki's defeat: did he really just eliminate himself?

Near the back of the plaza, Tsuyu and Hanta swung around the exposed pipes, deftly dodging Pony's flying horns. They looked like they were being controlled by the small blonde, as they followed the rapid movements of Tsuyu and Hanta. They were locked in a stalemate, since they could not close the gap due to Togaru's large blades protruding from his elbows.

Katsuki continued firing off blast after blast, creating more and more smoke and heat. The blasts were not at his full power, but he seemed to be pacing himself. He cackled, "Create all those fucking barriers if you want, but they won't last that much longer."

Suddenly, a shock of thick vines rushed through the smoke, entangling Mina, Katsuki, and Tenya. Jurota, evidently having trained with Ibara before, was able to avoid the vines by leaping with his full strength and latching onto an exposed pipe with his right arm.

Her fight with Denki over, Ibara appeared, glowering at Katsuki. "Such foul language…"

"Shut the fuck up!" Katsuki snarled, blasting away the vines covering himself, freeing Tenya and Mina in the process. The explosion nearly caught the two, which caused an indignant Mina to cuss out Katsuki.

He leveled his hand at Ibara, but quickly leapt backwards when Neito appeared and shouted, "Bang!"

An explosion was created where Katsuki was moments prior, but now that they were out of the small corridor, Izuku noticed that it truly could not be compared to Katsuki's explosions. However, Izuku was pretty sure that being caught by one would shatter the blue circle on their uniform's chest; it was not exactly the most durable thing on the planet. Neito once again shot two flares into the sky: one green and one yellow.

"I'm getting sick of that trick," Katsuki growled, sparks flying from his hands.

Neito laughed loudly. "And I'm getting sick of you being such a baby back bitch. Stop dodging and come fight me, you fucking chicken. Or do you need daddy Midoriya to come save your sorry ass one more time?"

Izuku could hear the snap of Katsuki's restraint even from where he was. Without a single word, he began to use explosions to rise into the air, creating a fiery whirlwind.

"Kacchan, no!" Izuku shouted.

Katsuki showed no signs of slowing down, so Izuku did what he could. "Everyone, take cover!"

Before the impact, Izuku used Blackwhip to extract Tenya and Mina from the ruins of the vines. Tsuyu and Hanta swung to safety, and Fumikage had Mashirao hide behind Dark Shadow. Seeing the two downed bodies of Denki and Hiryu, he sent two strands of Blackwhip to move them to a place of relative safety. He spotted Ibaraki scramble to make as many vines as possible to shield her classmates from the imminent threat.

"HOWITZER IMPACT!"

Light flooded the plaza. Everything went silent before a thunderous boom resounded, shaking their surroundings. Even from his distance to the impact, Izuku felt the blast of energy and heat from the explosion. When the dust cleared, it seemed that even Ibaraki's mighty wall of vines did not survive unscathed. They were almost completely burnt away, and a plume of smoke rose up from beyond the vines.

"They're fucking running again," Katsuki seethed, appearing from the smoke. "I'm chasing."

"Hold on," Izuku told him. He pressed a finger to his ear and spoke through the comms. "Do you have any information—"

"Screw that," Katsuki said. "I'm chasing, and I'm gonna kill that motherfucker Monoma." Without another word, he flew off in the direction that they last saw Class 1-B.

"Question. Does he even know where they went?" Tsuyu asked.

Mina snorted. "Doubt it."

"As much as it pains me to say this, but we have to follow him," Tenya said. "The thing is… it is just so obviously—"

"A trap."

"Trap, yeah."

"Definitely a trap."

"Literally screams trap."

The gathered Class 1-A students looked at the Class 1-B student that they conveniently had with them, but Hiryu just started whistling.

"It would be against the rules to torture someone for information, right?" Mina asked Tenya, who looked offended that she would even suggest such a thing.

"Of course!" Tenya blanched.

"You're in luck," she told Hiryu, whose whistling was becoming more and more strained by the second.

Momo's voice came in through the ear piece. "What is Bakugo doing? It looks like he's—what was that, Kyoka, Koda?"

Izuku braced himself for the worst.

"He's solo-engaging almost the entirety of Class 1-B? What? Is he insane?"

"Let's get going," Izuku said to the gathered Class 1-A students. As they started pursuing Katsuki, he told Momo, "We're following. Any idea on their numbers? Over."

Momo hesitated. "Almost their entire class. Visually, we can only see—what was it, Koda? Twelve. But Kyoka can hear more. Muted. Probably hiding amongst the upper areas. And—huh? Are you sure, Koda? A bird said that the flag is there, too. Point Bravo. Over."

"Got it," Izuku responded. "We're down Kaminari, but they've lost two. Follow Ashido's acid and hurry and come with the rest of the class. We're going to go and see if we can help Kacchan, but we'll be at a disadvantage until the cavalry comes. When we regroup, we'll start the flag retrieval phase. Over."

He dashed after his classmates, catching up to them with rapid movements using Blackwhip. As he landed beside Mina, she shouted, "Hey, Midoriya? We know where their flag is, right? Why don't we leave Bakugo and regroup with the others?"

"We can't just leave him behind," Izuku said, shaking his head. "This is nonnegotiable. We're bringing Kacchan back."

Mina rolled her eyes but smiled at him. "Of course you'd say something like that, Midoriya. Let's go rescue this bitch."

They followed the dim sounds of explosions until they reached Katsuki's location. He was truly a force to be reckoned with, a veritable one man army, but his opponents were not focused on offense at all; rather, they only focused on deflecting and running. That only served to infuriate him even further, and with the flag so close but being repelled at every step he took, Katsuki was beginning to grow even more unhinged and aggressive.

At this point, about an hour had passed since the official start of the exam. Even though the exam was only one fifth of the way done, they had already arrived at the flag. Despite their fast time, Izuku knew that the only reason that they'd even found it was because the constant retreat of Class 1-B had led them to this location: a wide, spacious ground, free of any of the cluster and pipes that lined the way here.

When the other class saw Izuku, three green flares were shot up into the sky, and Class 1-B began their counteroffensive in earnest.

From the pipes dotting the skyline on the border of the open area, a few Class 1-B members emerged. A petite girl with gray hair flung what seemed to be like a shower of tiny pebbles down at Katsuki. The small pebbles glowed with an otherworldly energy as they were redirected and flew at Katsuki. Seeing Reiko's Quirk Poltergeist at play was intriguing, and Izuku had many questions that he wanted to ask the girl about, but the battle took priority.

Katsuki ignored the small pebbles, not deeming them to be of any significance, and focused his hate-filled gaze at Neito, who was hiding behind a barrier of Ibara's vines. But Izuku knew that there was more to the small spray of tiny objects than initially met the eye, so he ran forward and snatched Katsuki with Blackwhip, yanking him to the side.

Katsuki was about to turn and yell at him when a dark haired girl pressed her fingertips together and the small pebbles turned into a gigantic landslide of random items. From barrels to microwaves to toasters to pipes, everything and anything came crashing down at them from such a wide range that Izuku and Katsuki were still struck by some of the debris. Izuku simply reflected them with Electromagneta and Katsuki blasted them away with a curse. However, a few of the objects still made it through his explosion, pelting him on the shoulder and leg, but fortunately, his blue circle remained intact.

But Class 1-B's onslaught did not end there. As Izuku was about to bolt out of there with Katsuki whether he liked it or not, his foot sank into the solid concrete ground like it twas quicksand. It must have been the work of Juzo's Softening, and Izuku grit his teeth and shot a few strands of Blackwhip at one of the metal pipes on the outskirts of the battlefield.

Feeling the strands connect, Izuku was about to pull him and Katsuki out of their terribly exposed position when vines suddenly overcame them. "Via Dolorosa!" Izuku and Katsuki heard Ibara cry. "Capture the unfaithful, O Lord."

"Can we get some fucking help here?" Katsuki finally called out, becoming acutely aware of how bad the situation they were in was. He tried putting his all into his blasts to blow the vines away, but the combination of the quicksand ground and never ending vines were proving to be too much. The pain in his forearms from the repeated blasts was starting to become unbearable, as well. Using Howitzer Impact like that had already drained his tolerance.

But the rest of their classmates were caught up in their own battles. Tsuyu and Hanta were busy evading Pony's horns, Mina and Tenya were caught up fighting Jurota, Fumikage's Dark Shadow was weak in the direct sunlight of the open area, and Ochaco and Mashirao were dueling Togaru, Itsuka, and Sen. None of those were particularly winning matchups.

Izuku tapped his ear piece. "How long until you guys get here? Over."

"We're almost there, over."

Katsuki finally blasted free of the vines, and Izuku was about to swing out of the quicksand-like concrete when he heard two distinct voices: Neito's voice and another voice, presumably Manga's.

"Bang! Kablam! Bam! Shazam!"

"Kabloom! Boom! Pow!"

The warning cries resounding in Izuku's head nearly split his mind in two. But, they all had one word in common: DODGE!

Izuku was about to zip out on Blackwhip, but he was not sure if he could get Katsuki out at the same time. Weighing his options, he quickly decided against leaving Katsuki behind and instantly leapt at and pulled him close with Blackwhip at the same time, pressing their chests together and bending over him, shielding him from the worst of the blast.

When the blasts faded away, Izuku peeled off of Katsuki's body. He looked unharmed, if a bit sunburnt, and both of their blue circles were intact. Izuku breathed a sigh of relief, but Katsuki was livid and broke free from Izuku's grasp. "I don't need your protection, f—"

They were given no respite. Immediately, Ibara's vines came again and Reiko scattered more small objects. Yui tapped her fingers and activated Size to make the small objects their normal size again, and this time, it was refrigerators, ovens, and closet doors that came raining down on them.

The words being screamed at Izuku from within his mind blended together and started becoming nonsensical. IN FRONT DODGE ROLL BACKWARDS MOVE FORWARD BEHIND YOU TO THE LEFT UP DOWN JUMP JUMP JUMP RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU—

There were too many threats to deal with. From the vines to the quicksand ground to the raining refrigerators to Neito and Manga saying onomatopeias, his attention was being torn apart in all directions, but he zeroed in on one thing as he was repelling the falling debris: an odd detached fist flying right at him at full speed. Izuku angled himself away from it, but another four blobs—was that flesh?—came zipping at them from an opposite angle.

Izuku was able to deflect the refrigerator and closet door that came barreling down at him, and Katsuki was able to once again blast away the worst of the debris, but the corner of an oven clipped him on the head, stunning the blonde. As Izuku was reaching out a hand to support Katsuki, he—UNDERNEATH YOU!

Izuku almost did not react in time. With his legs sunk into the ground, his lower torso entangled in vines, and extending an arm to hold a barely conscious Katsuki, the only thing Izuku could do was backhand the incoming threat. Juzo had swam through the softened concrete underneath him and leapt out of the ground, aiming at Izuku's core, but Izuku's backhand, which landed squarely on his cheek, caused him to stagger backwards a decent amount. However, Juzo's objective had been completed: with Izuku sunk in the ground, restricted by vines, one arm holding Katsuki up and the other just having completed the backhand motion, Izuku's chest was exposed.

Nine blobs of flesh and one disembodied hand rushed at his core from all different angles. With the alarm bells going off in his head, Izuku quickly activated Electromagneta by flexing his hands. But not even Izuku, with all his time using Electromagneta since the start of the school year, could have been prepared for what happened next, because—

Because he did not have access to a certain sensei's notes about his Quirks, there was no way that Izuku could have known: Electromagneta does not work on organic material.

Setsuna's fist, split off from her main body via her Quirk Lizard Tail Splitter, struck Izuku's chest, right on the blue circle, and it was instantly shattered.

As Izuku's suit began to harden, signaling his elimination, a lot of things happened. First, Katsuki immediately followed after. He was easy pickings for Setsuna, as he was not even really conscious at that point—a flying oven certainly did the trick. Second, Setsuna flew down from her perch on the outskirts of the opening, exclaiming, "I did it! I got Green and Yellow!" Third, the combination of Ibara's vines, Juzo's softening of the ground, and Setsuna joining the fray, Katsuki's and Izuku's squadmates were almost entirely massacred. At some point, Shoto had arrived on the scene, as evidenced by the ice wall, and Momo's frantic voice could be heard through his ear piece.

But his mind did not even register a single one of those events. Instead, it had fixated on one thing: Setsuna Tokage, the girl who had gotten him out. He stared at her for as long as he could, catching her gaze at one point, before succumbing to his own world.

He had… lost.

An ugly emotion whirled up within him. It was hatred at himself for being weak, doubt for his own abilities, but also—

A raw, primal fear.

Now that he had lost… would he still be useful? Would he still be counted on? Would he still even be fed?

Of course, the rational side of his brain said. Why would you think anything else?

But a deeper part of him—the child within him, the irrational side of him, the most basic, primal Izuku went somewhere else.

He had lost. That meant no food, no hot water, and sessions. Oh, those sessions—

Izuku was lost, deep in his delusions, unresponsive even as his classmates bitterly fought to retrieve the flag. But with their morale shattered, it was only a matter of time before Class 1-B snatched victory in a stunning upset.

Izuku only returned to reality when Midnight came to him, half-sunk into the ground, and undid the locking mechanism on his uniform.

.:.

"Alright, let's have a productive meeting," Tenya said, standing up in front of his gathered classmates. The atmosphere in the common room was tense after their defeat earlier that day. A few of them still had bandages from being treated by Recovery Girl, but none had serious injuries that would affect their performance the next day.

Mina held up her hand. "Before we start, can I vent for a bit?"

Tenya frowned. "I, uh, do not think that that will be conducive for a good meeting—"

"Bakugo," Mina immediately started, staring at the blonde, "hey, shit-for-brains. I'm talking to you. Because of you, we lost out there today."

"Not like you did much," Katsuki fired back, glowering. His comeback did not contain the usual fire behind it, probably due to the fact that he knew she was correct.

"None of us did much," Mina corrected testily, "and do you wanna know why? Because we lost most of our command structure, our firepower, and our trump card all at once to an attack that we could have avoided if you didn't get baited like an utter dumbass! I mean, seriously, grow the fuck up, you goddamn child—"

"Shut up, pink."

"—they got you with the most childish thing. The blonde dude insulted your 'pride' or something, and you lost your cool. Pathetic, really. The thing is, I know you're smarter than that, which is why it's so infuriating watching you act like a fu—"

Katsuki looked like he was about to unleash an unholy inferno of expletives back at Mina, but finally, Izuku stepped in. "Ashido, Kacchan, enough."

Their retorts died in their throats at Izuku's words. He did not scream or yell; Izuku just spoke firmly, a departure from his usual soft tone. Indeed, now that his classmates observed the vernadette more closely, something seemed distinctly off. The Izuku before them now was not the same Izuku that they had met all those months ago. Momo watched him with an anxious expression on her face.

"Let's not blame each other," Izuku spoke. "If you want to blame anyone, blame me. I insisted on helping Kacchan, and I was eliminated rather early on, so—"

"I don't want to hear that come out of your mouth," Katsuki seethed. He didn't say it, but the subtext was just text at this point: the only reason you got out, Izuku, was because of me. The only reason Izuku had even gotten trapped in such a bad situation was because he had rushed out to save Katsuki. Both the blonde and the rest of the class knew that at this point.

"Yeah," Mina added, "that wasn't even your fault. They used Bakubitch to spring a trap on you and sent like half of their entire team. It wasn't fair. You're just too nice to pin the blame where it belongs."

"You couldn't use the part of your Quirk that makes you useful—erk." After catching the death glares half the class was sending him, Minoru amended, "… go fast and be strong. So it couldn't be helped that—"

"No," Izuku interrupted. "It was my fault."

"Look, man, stop saying—"

Izuku silenced Eijiro with a look. "Even without using part of my Quirk, they should not have been able to eliminate me using a trap like that."

Katsuki was about to chide Izuku for being too cocky, but his words failed to come out when he observed Izuku's countenance. He spoke like he was simply stating a fact, like the sky was blue, and his face betrayed nothing except for a dark glint in his eyes. Everyone remained silent, unsure of what to say next and uncomfortable with the situation as a whole.

"Let's just agree that what happened today won't happen tomorrow," Momo suggested in an attempt to keep the conversation moving.

"Momo's right," Izuku agreed, nodding. "It won't."

It seemed less like Izuku was telling this to his classmates and more so that he was telling it to himself.

Acutely aware of the strained atmosphere, Momo continued, "Tomorrow, we'll be on defense, and we'd like to go over our plan for that." She gave Izuku a look, prompting him to begin.

"I originally had a conservative approach to dealing with this," Izuku said, "but, after today, I wanted to adopt a more… aggressive approach."

Katsuki grinned, regaining some of his usual attitude. "Now I'm paying attention."

.:.

Later that night, Momo met up with Shoto in an abandoned common room after receiving a terse text from him: there's something we need to talk about.

It was similar to the text she received on Sunday from the same boy when he demanded a status update from Momo. Expecting something similar in nature, she greeted her comrade in arms with a simple, "Nothing new has happened."

Shoto blinked, confused. "What are you talking about?"

Momo stared at him.

A beat of silence passed.

"Wait," she backpedaled, "you actually want to discuss something serious?"

"I'm lost," Shoto confessed, his usual impassive demeanor holding strong. "We only ever discuss serious things."

Momo held back the urge to roll her eyes and asked, "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"A few things," he answered, holding up a finger. "One, the exam. Two—well, it's related to the first—Midoriya's behavior. Three, his girlfriend, Toga. Shall we proceed in that order?"

Momo nodded, unable to see where he was going with this. After seeing her give him her assent, he began, "We need to do better in the exam tomorrow."

His words were the equivalent of having a bucketful of ice water splashed onto her head without warning. Although she felt like she was just suckerpunched, Momo couldn't find it within her to be upset with Shoto for his words. She knew that he was right.

"… yeah," Momo agreed.

"I will be honest and upfront with you, as I always am," Shoto said. Momo squashed down the biting retort that she had for that egregiously false statement and allowed him to continue. "I panicked when I saw that Midoriya was eliminated. I'm sure you and the rest of the class did as well. Although it was definitely a large blow to our power, numerically speaking, the classes were about even. We could have turned it around and pulled off a victory."

Momo sighed. To call it "panic" was underselling the emotion that coursed through Class 1-A when they saw Izuku frozen in the ground, but Shoto was objectively correct.

"There's no point in thinking about what we could have done," Shoto continued. "But we should learn from this. I think that, ever since coming here, Midoriya has this image of being untouchable, undefeatable. But cementing that image and overreliance is unhealthy for us, beyond our development as heroes. Because—"

Shoto's next words struck a chord within Momo.

"We have to remember that Midoriya is a person just like you and me."

Momo blinked. She never thought about it that way, but Shoto was spitting only facts. Beyond everything, beyond his Quirk, Izuku was a sweet boy first and foremost.

"So—and I'll say this to you this one last time—we have to be better. If there's one thing that you and I should learn from this exam, it's that, if we want to stand by his side as equals, we can't overly rely on Midoriya. Both for his sake and ours."

Momo saw the point that Shoto was making. He was not arguing that relying on Izuku was bad, but rather, relying on Izuku too much would have negative impacts for both them and Izuku. She could agree with Shoto's reasoning. Plus, the last thing Momo wanted was for Izuku to see her as an incompetent hero who had to come to him for everything.

"That leads us perfectly into the next topic," Shoto said, holding up two fingers. "I'll just ask you, since you probably spend the most time watching him. Did Midoriya's behavior seem off to you during the meeting earlier?"

"Hold on," Momo objected, "I don't like that comment about me spending the most time watching him."

He looked at her blankly. "Am I wrong?"

They stared at each other for a short moment.

"I wouldn't say off," Momo pressed on, ignoring the way Shoto's mouth quirked up into a smirk. "Izuku has always been very competitive, and I don't think that he likes losing. I think it was less of a 'something is off' moment and more like a 'we're seeing a bit of what he keeps hidden within him' moment."

"I see. So," Shoto summed, "he seems meek and mild-mannered, but his drive to win might be the strongest out of everyone in the class, even Bakugo. Basically, you're telling me that it isn't something we should be worried about."

Momo nodded. "That's what I think—at least, for now."

The heterochromatic boy hummed. "I'll leave the judgment to the resident Midoriya expert."

She did not even bother to honor his quip with a reaction. However, now she knew: underneath all of Shoto's impassive facade was a person who genuinely cared for and worried about his friends. She could respect that.

"Now, on to the final topic of the night," Shoto said. "Is it just me, or is Midoriya's girlfriend… how do I put this nicely… scary?"

Hearing the way that Shoto said that almost caused Momo to laugh, but she refrained from doing so because she understood and agreed with the sentiment.

"She looked like she wanted to kill me," Momo admitted, remembering the look on Himiko's face when Izuku was not paying attention. An involuntary shiver traveled down her spine.

"Glad to know I'm not alone," Shoto replied. "Before you came, she was glaring at me like I destroyed her most prized possession, and I've never met her before in my life."

Momo and Shoto shared a look of understanding. Then, Shoto's face lit up. "But, this bodes well for the mission. A girl like that surely can't be good for Midoriya. Toxic relationships always fall apart one way or another."

"But Izuku looks really happy when he's with her," Momo said despondently.

Shoto dismissed her concerns with a simple wave of his hand. "Eh, she's probably gaslighting him or hiding major things from him. Either way, not good."

Momo studied Shoto closely. Was he trolling her, or was he genuinely trying to make her feel better?

As usual, his face betrayed nothing, and Momo went to bed later that night with a flurry of thoughts revolving around a certain green-haired hero.

.:.

Around the same time that Momo and Shoto were having their talk, Izuku arrived at an ice cream store located near U.A. University.

The moment he walked in, he was greeted with an ice cream cone of his favorite flavor shoved into his face. The person holding the cone grinned at him, cat-like. "On me."

Izuku frowned, taking the ice cream cone. Before him, Himiko stood, dressed in a nice white blouse and black jeans. "How much was it? I'm not going to let you pay for me."

She frowned right back at him. "You've paid for me so many times already. Just this once."

Izuku looked at her, but she didn't relent. Knowing how oddly stubborn and particular she could get about things like this, he finally managed, "Fine. But next time we go out, it's on me."

Riiiiiight," she said suspiciously, switching back into a grin. "I'll definitely let you pay."

Izuku decided not to press the topic and licked his ice cream cone. The whole swirl of emotions that he'd felt ever since being defeated earlier that day was finally starting to condense and relax now that he was with Himiko. He followed her to a booth by the window, where Himiko sat down and Izuku followed.

"So," she started, genuine concern laced into her voice, "what's wrong?" Her eyes darted around him, never once meeting his gaze.

Himiko must have been referring to the short text that Izuku had sent her. Usually, it was Himiko who asked him out, but this time, Izuku asked if they could go somewhere to talk. Looking at the noticeable, even to a socially unaware person like Izuku, panic on her face, he decided to assuage his girlfriend: "Nothing, really. Relax, I'm not trying to break up with you or anything."

"Good." All the tension left Himiko's body, and she laughed nervously. "Because I wouldn't know what I'd do if you did. Probably kill everyone around me and then myself."

Izuku blinked. What?

"But seriously, what's wrong? Aren't you in the middle of exams? Did something bad happen there?" Her voice dropped an octave, and her teasing tilt came back. "Want some comfort~?"

"Not today," Izuku sighed. In a brief summary, he told Himiko the condensed version of their first exam earlier that day. "I… don't know, Himiko. I just feel like there's two sides of me—or not even that, but rather there's a true Izuku that I don't even know about. And… I just don't know what to do."

Himiko remained incredibly quiet. Typically, Izuku liked to think that he could get a decent read on his girlfriend, but right now, at this moment, it was impossible to guess what Himiko was thinking. There was no way for Izuku to know the mess of emotions that Himiko was feeling.

"You've talked to me about this before," Himiko said, remembering. "After the incident at the U.S.J."

Izuku nodded. "It's… somewhat similar. But these—these ghosts of memories, like I'm supposed to be remembering something, are seeping into my consciousness, but I never know where they come from. Well, actually, I have an idea of where it's coming from, or where it could be coming from—probably the time I was kidnapped by that villain, but…"

Himiko waited patiently for Izuku to put words to his thoughts.

"I just—after I was eliminated earlier today, I felt a lot of things. But the most pressing question was whether or not I'd get food, or if I'd have to undergo a session," Izuku laughed weakly. "Totally nonsensical things, right? I mean, I don't even know what a session is, but my mind just went right to it, and I was… scared."

Several times during his monologue, he noticed Himiko open her mouth, as if she wanted to interject, but now, she kept it firmly shut. Her face was twisted in what could very well have been hope or despair.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is…" Izuku said, "I don't know what to do. I don't know what to think. I feel like even my own mind is starting to become compromised."

He looked at Himiko, hoping, praying that she would have an answer for him.

"Just do what you want to do," she said gently, reaching over and grabbing Izuku's hand with her own. "Don't think too hard about it. Whatever Izuku you are, I'll love him."

The look on Izuku's face told her that that was not the answer he was looking for. He wanted something concrete, instructions.

Himiko thought for a bit before saying, "The Izuku that you choose to be is the true Izuku. So—two sides? Who says they can't coexist? Ghosts of memories? Embrace them, because they're still a part of you. I'm sure you'll do good no matter what you do, and I'll love you no matter what. Isn't that enough?"

Izuku mulled over what Himiko said.

"Yeah," he smiled. "It is. Thanks, Himiko, for listening."

"Like I said," Himiko returned, "anytime. Really, anytime. I meant it when I said that I'll always be here to listen to your problems, and…"

She leaned over and kissed him gently.

"For as long as you have me, you'll never have to think through things alone."

.:.

On the second day of the exam, Class 1-A gathered in Ground Omega at the start of their preparation phase.

They had discussed their plan the night before, but naturally, there were a few students still apprehensive about Izuku's more aggressive approach. "Uh, Midoriya?" Mashirao asked, holding onto the flag. "Are you sure you want to put the flag here?"

"Yes," Izuku said. "Right there."

Mashirao shrugged and planted the flag right where Izuku pointed, five hundred meters from where Class 1-B would be entering Ground Omega when the exam starts. A clear line of sight ran from the flag's location to the entrance point for Class 1-B.

"Jiro, Koda," Izuku said into his ear piece, pressing a finger to it, "how is the 'civilian' rounding up process going? Over."

"We've found three out of five, over," Kyoka answered.

"Perfect. When you find all of them, bring them to the flag, over." Izuku switched his attention to the tall brunette hard at work by his side. "Momo, what's the status on your end?"

"Almost done installing the speaker system," she told him. She was creating wires and a microphone from her torso, but due to the nature of the uniform that they all had to wear, she had to hold up her shirt with her chin and expose her toned stomach to use her Quirk. "Cannons and launchers are ready, too."

But Izuku wasn't paying attention to the feast before his eyes. He was a man on a mission: to utterly rout Class 1-B. "Kacchan, Todoroki, are your squads in position? Over."

"Born ready," Katsuki replied.

"Born ready what? Over," came Shoto's voice.

"What?"

"What what? Over."

"Are you really picking a fight right now—" Katsuki realized the meaning behind Shoto's behavior. "Man, fuck your over."

"Fuck my what? Over."

Katsuki let loose a string of curses and clogged up voice communications. As he did so, Momo rolled her eyes, used to Shoto's antics by now. Izuku cut in, saying, "Now, now. Let's save that for Class 1-B, Kacchan, over."

"Your plan better work," was the reply.

"Regardless of whether or not it works," Izuku spoke, slowly and methodically, "this is a chance. Surely I'm not the only one annoyed by how we were trapped yesterday? This is a chance for you to cut loose and exact revenge without worrying about any traps that they could have up their sleeve. Over."

"You make a good fucking point."

Izuku lowered his hand from his ear, and he turned towards Mashirao, who was still standing next to the flag, unsure. "You can go join Uraraka's squad now."

"On it." With a final look at their very exposed flag, Mashirao asked, "Uhm, Midoriya? How positive are you that this strategy was the best one?"

"I don't know if it was the best one," Izuku answered honestly, "but I can say this for certain—"

With a fierce look in his eyes, he declared:

"Within an hour, this exam will end in a victory for us."

.:.

Class 1-B's preparation phase was a lot more relaxed than Class 1-A's.

"So what I'm saying is," Kosei said, holding up an open palm with a wad of cash in it, "three thousand yen on Bakugo charging at us right off the bat."

"I don't think so," Togaru countered, retracting a blade from his elbow. "I think Midoriya must have given him a stern talking to."

Neito snorted. "Doubt it. Dude's a fuckin' animal. Same with the rest of Class 1-A—just a bunch of beasts locked in a cage." He looked at Jurota. "No offense."

Istuka whacked him on the head with a moderately-sized fist. "Stop it, Monoma. We still have to take this seriously."

"Yeah," Setsuna said, immediately drawing her classmates' attention. Ever since she took down both Izuku, Katsuki, and later on, even Shoto, her position in the upper echelons of the class had been further cemented. "Monoma, I think your plan is pretty good. Have me scout, report back, and then attack the flag together. The only issue is—"

She bit her lip, pondering how to phrase her words.

"I don't think we'll even get the chance to implement our plan."

"What do you mean?" Nirengeki, Class 1-B's vice representative, asked.

"It's nothing but a hunch," Setsuna answered, "but Midoriya—he's smart."

"No he's not," Neito immediately countered, but he flinched when Itsuka raised her fist.

"Yes, he is," the green-haired girl retorted, brushing up her bangs with one hand. "Point is, he's pissed. Bakugo's pissed. Both of them are going to be out for blood. I don't think they're gonna wait around for us to come to them. They're going to come to us."

Neito frowned. "Isn't that a good thing? And on what basis are you making that claim?"

Setsuna thought back to Izuku's gaze when she eliminated him. Though he could not move, his eyes followed her every movement, burning holes into her back, with a look that indicated that he wasn't entirely there. It was, for lack of a better term, terrifying.

She heard he was a sweet guy from idle gossip about how Momo, Tsuyu, and Ochaco from Class 1-A were all crushing on him, but there was nothing sweet in that look.

"… let's just call it instinct," Setsuna sighed, stroking her hair. "Anyways, we just have to be ready that Class 1-A will actually go on the offensive. He'll probably sic a rabid Bakugo on us at the very start of the exam."

"Fine, fine," Neito waved her off. "We'll consider it. Regardless, they have to start within a certain distance from their flag, right? Just like us."

A few nods from his classmates.

"So, no matter what, we'll have time to adapt," Neito summed. "Stop worrying so much, Tokage. We're chillin'. We can deal with a rabid Bakugo, right Shiozaki?"

The girl with vines instead of hair glowered at him. "Easy for you to say."

"Plus, Midoriya's a pushover," Neito triumphantly declared. "We were so scared for no reason."

"Monoma, are you an idiot?" Setsuna asked him. Looking at his flabbergasted expression, she asked him again, "It's not a rhetorical question. Are you an idiot?"

Neito rubbed the back of his head. "Uh, how do you want me to answer that?"

"By saying that you are, in fact, a moron." Setsuna smacked her forehead, unable to comprehend how deeply deluded Neito was. "We all saw him at the sports festival. He shattered Todoroki's ice wall like it was nothing. I saw the clips of him fighting those Nomu on the train and the clips of him fighting Stain, and I know that you all have, as well."

"And? What's your point?"

Setsuna resisted the urge to split off a fist and introduce it to Neito's face. "It's clear to me, at least, that he's holding back. Or, more likely, he's been asked by the U.A. faculty to limit his Quirk usage. And even then, we only got him because we exploited his own good nature. I mean—you guys saw it, too, right? Refrigerators were bouncing off of him. We can't go into this second day thinking that Midoriya's a pushover."

Neito raised his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright, I'll take it back. Didn't realize we had a Midoriya stan among us."

"Not a Midoriya stan," Setsuna retorted. "I just want to win. But we won't with this lackadaisical attitude you're putting forth."

Before Neito could open his mouth and start an argument, Power Loader appeared to escort them to Ground Omega, where the second stage of the Inter-Class War would be held.

"Relax, Tokage," Itsuka tried comforting her on their way over. "It'll probably be fine."

"I know," Setsuna sighed, "but I just want us to be prepared for all potential outcomes. Monoma's way of thinking is not a good influence on the mentality of the rest of the class."

"Tokage, relaaaaaaaaaax," Neito said, overhearing their conversation. "What, you think that we'll enter Ground Omega and instantly be met with their flag and a pissed off Bakugo? Come on, Class 1-A isn't that crazy. They'll probably set up deep within the grounds, have some traps here and there, but nothing we can't deal with."

They arrived at the entrance to Ground Omega, and following a boisterous start signal from Present Mic, they entered the training ground, the gates closing behind Class 1-B with an air of finality.

And what did they find?

Just barely within eyesight, a mere five hundred meters away, Class 1-A's flag was planted into the dirt. In between them, right at the halfway point from their starting location and the other class's flag, a very, very pissed-looking Katsuki Bakugo stood, a single palm pointed at them and sparkling.

"Oh, shit," Neito murmured. "Class 1-A really is that crazy."

Setsuna was the first to react. "Shiozaki, shield us!"

Almost instantly, a wall of vines was erected, attempting to shield the class from the brunt of Katsuki's assault, but to half the class's sheer terror, his blast pierced the wall of vines like it was butter and nearly took down three of them with one shot had Itsuka not reacted and saved them with a giant fist. Of course, Class 1-B did not know Katsuki well enough to be able to tell that he was now using a watered-down version of his technique AP Shot, which usually had enough force to pierce solid concrete.

"We need to get out of here, now," Setsuna told her classmates. "We're sitting ducks for Bakugo here."

"Let's head to the right," Itsuka said. To their left was a wild area with thick foliage, which typically would make for good cover from Katsuki's artillery barrage, but the inverse was true as well: who knew what manner of traps laid hidden amongst the shrubbery?

As their class began to move, a massive ice wall appeared to their right, boxing them in. Jurota tried pounding on it, but even with his superhuman strength, the ice wall just barely cracked. The decision to be made did not even have to be said out loud; the entire class, in unison, turned to head towards their left to escape Katsuki's barrage.

However, their silently agreed on plan was short lived. Immediately, the dense foliage lit up in an inferno of flames. Upon closer inspection, it was not purely the greenery that fueled the fire. Mixed in with the shrubs was a black, tar-like substance, suggesting that this ignition was a part of Class 1-A's plan, too.

"Well, we're off to a pretty shitty start," Neito observed. Soon, the exam would just devolve into all-out warfare between the two classes, and that was most likely what Class 1-A wanted. "Only one way to go—forward."

For once, Setsuna agreed with Neito's assessment. Sure, some of them could probably leap through the flames or get over the ice wall, but that would involve leaving behind the rest of the immobile members of Class 1-B to be served up on a silver platter to a vengeful Katsuki. That would be unacceptable.

"Shishida, take Awase, Kaibara, Kamakiri, Tsuburaba, and Rin and push Bakugo," Setsuna instantly instructed. "The rest of us will provide support. You guys have to keep his attention off of us. Kuroiro, see if you can get a pick on anyone—preferably Bakugo. Keep an eye out for Todoroki, as he's likely somewhere in the area. Honenuki, get close and aid Shishida with his attack. I trust that you can use your Quirk on the ground?"

"Only parts of it, but yes," Juzo answered his fellow recommended student.

Her classmates rushed off bravely in the face of imminent danger. Setsuna, for her part, used her Quirk to help her get an aerial, bird's-eye view of the engagement, and just as she was thinking about where the rest of Class 1-A could have been, she spotted strange, catapult-like devices on the other side of the flaming forest. A brown-haired girl, who Setsuna was able to identify as Ochaco Uraraka, tapped six of her classmates with her hand and loaded them onto the catapults.

Realizing what was about to happen, Setsuna flew back to the ground to warn her classmates. "From the left—they're launching their classmates in!"

"Launching? How?" Ibara asked.

"Don't ask how, just get ready," Itsuka said, turning towards their left. Just as Setsuna reported, six figures were flying through the air like they were weightless, when all of a sudden, they regained their mass and fell to the earth. The landing was not the prettiest, but they succeeded in their mission: directly accessing Class 1-B's back lines.

Setsuna recognized the six people that landed a couple dozen meters from their location. Tenya, Mashirao, Rikido, Mezo, Fumikage, and Eijiro. Close quarters brawlers, all six of them.

"Shiozaki, focus on providing some cover for the ones pushing Bakugo's position," Setsuna said. She turned towards Itsuka. "Take some of our classmates to intercept them."

Itsuka nodded. "Tetsutetsu, Shoda, and Fukidashi, come with me."

As Tetsutetsu, Nirengeki, and Manga followed Itsuka, Setsuna returned to observing the battlefield. Jurota's group had managed to successfully reach Katsuki, but now they were locked in combat with not just Katsuki but a number of Class 1-A students.

Ultimately, it was a numbers game, and Setsuna ran through the mental calculations. Ochaco, Tenya, Fumikage, Mashirao, Rikido, Mezo, and Eijiro, all to the left. Katsuki and another six of his classmates were engaging Jurota and his company in the field before her. If her eyes weren't tricking her, she saw Koji, Mina, Denki, Kyoka, Yuga, and some purple ball-shaped tiny gremlin. Not all the members of that group were exactly strong fighters, but Katsuki was making up the gap between his group and Jurota's group with sheer violence and will. That made fourteen out of twenty accounted for.

"From the ice!" Yui called, causing Setsuna to turn and look. Attached to the ice wall, two figures swung downwards: Class 1-A's Tsuyu and Hanta. As Pony, Yui, and Reiko prepared to intercept them, Setsuna added the total up to sixteen. There was also a girl who was invisible, and there was no way her eyesight was good enough to catch a floating blue circle from range, so Setsuna added Toru to the count for seventeen for the sake of completion.

That left Shoto, Momo, and Izuku. All of them had yet to reveal themselves, though Setsuna supposed that they made their presence felt: Shoto with the ice and fire and Momo with the catapult-machines.

While they were being pushed back on their left flank, Jurota's group was making headway against Katsuki. Although Katsuki brought the heat, Jurota's group had more members and more fighters, so Katsuki was being pushed back. She spotted four of the six Class 1-A members on their left pull back and begin heading towards Jurota's group in the center, so she propelled herself using her Quirk and instantly flew over to warn her classmates that they were getting pincered.

"You're getting flanked," Setsuna said bluntly, flying onto the scene. She arrived just in time to watch Jurota knock away Koji, sending the poor boy flying with a shattered core.

"Thanks for the heads up," Jurota nonchalantly replied, acting as if he did not just smack someone with enough force to send him flying.

"YOU!" Katsuki roared after laying eyes on Setsuna. "I heard you got me and Deku out—and Katsuki Bakugo never forgets! Katsuki Bakugo always gets the last laugh!"

Setsuna stared at him, thinking, this kid's a nutcase.

Now that Katsuki's full attention was on her, she instantly split herself up and sent herself flying in different directions, ignoring Katsuki's undignified "What the fuck was that?" His subsequent blasts caught some of the smaller bits that she had split herself into, incinerating them, but she just regenerated and reformed a fair distance away from them. Regenerating lost parts was always exhausting for her, but if it was just a small amount, it was manageable.

As Katsuki was about to give chase, his foot sank into the ground like it was quicksand. "Not this shit again," he groaned.

Katsuki pointed his hands at the ground and blasted upwards, screeching into the sky after Setsuna and almost blasting poor Juzo, who was swimming in the ground. With a single look at Jurota, Setsuna reached an agreement with the beast of a man: you take care of the rest, and I'll distract Katsuki.

She flew through the air, splitting off bits and pieces of herself to try and see if she could catch Katsuki by surprise. The pieces were all repelled by Katsuki, and as she gained distance from the combat on the ground, Setsuna decided to fly towards the flag to see if she could figure out Momo, Shoto, and Izuku's location.

The metallic sheen of something amongst the trees caught her attention, and Setsuna immediately called off her solo recon mission, turning around and heading back towards the entrance to Ground Omega. Just as she did so, four separate blasts rang through the sky, scattering nets in the sky where she just was.

Setsuna grinned at the sight. The only purpose of having those there was to counter her specifically, and it was something akin to a compliment. She knew that she would be in trouble if some bits of her were caught in the nets. She was already getting a tad bit woozy from regenerating the pieces of herself that Katsuki destroyed with his blasts.

As she swerved around, she noticed that more Class 1-A members had joined the combat against Jurota's group. All six of the Class 1-A members on their left flank were now present, and Tsuyu and Hanta were swinging onto the scene as well, causing Setsuna to frown. Jurota and the Class 1-B fighters had managed to take down Yuga and the purple kid while she was off distracting Katsuki, but the eight new Class 1-A members would surely swing the tide in their favor.

Katsuki was still chasing her, hurling expletives, but evading him was child's play. He always had to have at least one hand pointed in the opposite direction to propel himself forward, so Setsuna just had to account for the one hand that was pointing at her. Her mind was focused on more pressing concerns: if Class 1-A was able to regroup, what happened to her classmates on the back lines?

"Hey, Bakugo!" Mina called, dancing under Jurota's swipes, "need some help here!"

Katsuki growled, but he gave up on chasing Setsuna and flew back down to join the fight against Jurota, allowing Setsuna to switch her attention to her classmates on the back lines.

Right as she was thinking that, a second ice wall was erected right before her eyes, splitting Jurota's group and the members of her class with Ibara in two. Immediately filled with dread at the sight, she picked up the speed, separated into more pieces, and flew over the ice wall to see the area shrouded in a very thick, dense purple smoke.

Regathering herself and landing, she immediately noticed that the smoke was so thick that she could barely see five feet in front of her. She followed the muted screams and ran into Neito and Itsuka. "What's going on?"

Neito flinched, but when he realized that it was just Setsuna, he breathed a sigh of relief. "Hey, Midoriya stan—"

Setsuna glared at him. "Not a Midoriya stan."

"—when did Midoriya have a Quirk that allowed him to create this?" he asked, gesturing around at the smoke.

"He's here?" Setsuna asked.

Itsuka nodded. "Somewhere within this smoke."

"What about the rest of the class?"

"We're trying to look for them," Itsuka told her. A cry of surprise echoed somewhere to the right of them, and the three heroes-in-training shared a look before running off to the source of the sound. They found Kinoko lying in the dirt, blue circle shattered.

"You guys have to help Shiozaki," the mushroom girl pleaded with them.

Setsuna and Itsuka nodded. "Of course."

Suddenly, the sound of a boy screaming came closer and closer. They looked at the source of the sound and saw a strand of darkness throw Kojiro gently to the ground before disappearing into the smoke. After confirming that he was eliminated, the three followed in the direction that the strand disappeared off into.

"Why do I feel like we're in a horror movie?" Itsuka grumbled. "Can't see anything."

"If we were," Neito remarked, "we're doing that thing where the characters go towards the obvious red flag danger, rather than run away from it."

The smoke was beginning to clear, though. Setsuna began to make out the fallen over, frozen bodies of her eliminated classmates. None of them looked like they had sustained any injuries whatsoever; instead, it looked like they were all eliminated in a single, precise blow.

They began to see Ibara fighting someone who was presumably Izuku, so they rushed to her aid—urk.

A sinister pressure caused Setsuna's knees to almost crumple beneath her. Itsuka managed to remain upright, but Neito had fallen to his knees with an almost comical "… huh?"

It felt like she was sinking deeper and deeper into the ocean with the pressure building up and no way out. She forced herself to move forward, but her movements were slower, unsteadier. "Shiozaki—"

"RUN!" Ibara shouted, not even sparing Setsuna, Itsuka, and Neito a glance. "I'll hold him here, just run!"

Setsuna gritted her teeth. "We'll fight him together—"

A whole swath of vines cut them off and separated the three from Ibara. Strands of darkness looped over the vines and flung Izuku into the sky, landing before the three. With a swipe of his hand, the purple smoke was dispelled, revealing Ibara's form and the downed bodies of Class 1-B's back line. Her mighty vines were tied down and hampered by seven, eight tendrils of darkness emanating from Izuku's left arm. Instinctively, Setsuna fired off a fist directly at his core, but this time, Izuku had his right hand covering it, and when her fist struck his, it felt like she was striking a brick wall.

He smiled. "Setsuna Tokage. It's nice to officially meet you."

Though his words were spoken genuinely, the sheer pressure emanating from him, the aura that manifested behind him made her feel like she was an ant on the wrong side of a magnifying glass. She felt like she was being crushed under the water pressure in the deepest parts of the sea, where even moving was a gargantuan effort.

The effect was partially broken when Ibara's vines broke free and attempted to entangle Izuku. With his attention split, Setsuna, Itsuka, and Neito felt as if they could breathe again. "Please," Ibara pleaded with them. "Flee! There's no one left here. Don't let Class 1-B lose here and now. If you guys make it out, there's at least a chance."

Setsuna looked for gaps within Izuku's defense, but he always had that right hand covering his core. With his attention turned towards Ibara, she looked at Itsuka and Neito. The former looked torn, while the latter already made up his mind. "She's sacrificing herself for us," Neito said. "We can't let her decision be in vain."

Itsuka still looked unconvinced, so Setsuna made the hard decision for her. "Let's regroup with Shishida. Monoma, copy my Quirk and help me carry Kendo."

"I don't know how to use your Quirk," he complained, but he tapped her and did so anyway.

Grabbing a hold of Itsuka and encouraging Neito to do the same, she instructed, "Just imagine splitting yourself in two and flying. Easy."

"Easy my ass," Neito glowered at her, but then his legs popped off and sped into the distance. "What—what the fuck?"

The overbearing pressure was returning, and Setsuna turned, watching Izuku refocus his attention on them after having dealt with Ibara. With strands of darkness prying apart her vines and entangling them at their roots, she became a much easier target, and from her rapidly freezing body, Ibara mouthed, sorry.

"Now or never," she warned, and Setsuna zoomed off with Itsuka and Neito following close behind. She had to do the brunt of the heavy lifting because Neito was not that familiar with her Quirk, but they made it over the ice wall only to be confronted with another ghastly sight: the grassy field had turned into a winter landscape, with frost and ice accumulating on the ground. Some Class 1-B students were frozen to the ground, with ice around their legs and cores completely shattered.

Neito managed to reconnect himself and become whole again as they landed in the shadow of a small hill. With tears in his eyes, he said, "Kendo, let me copy your Quirk. I'm gonna throw up if I have to use Tokage's Quirk again."

The heavy thumping of footsteps informed the three that something large was approaching. As Setsuna turned to look, she saw Jurota crest the hill with Tetsutetsu in tow.

"I thought that I saw you guys land here," the giant beast said, skidding to a stop. "Todoroki and Bakugo are going bananas. We only got away because Rin, Kamakiri, and Honenuki are distracting them for us. What's the situation from the back line? Surely they're alright?"

Neito smiled sheepishly. "Wiped by Midoriya."

"Wiped—wiped by Midoriya?" Jurota cried. "In, like, ten minutes?"

"He'll wipe the rest of us if we don't get a move on," Itsuka said. "We gotta regroup and rethink our plan."

"The fire's growing weaker," Setsuna observed. "We should make a break for it to the left. We only have to be careful of Uraraka there. Unless, of course, you guys want to try climbing that."

The group of five turned to look at the imposing ice wall that lined their right and cut off their retreat path.

"Yeah, let's just go through the fire." Neito said sarcastically. "Why not?"

"Okay." Setsuna turned to look at the ice wall that they had just flown over. "We should move before Midoriya finds us."

"Wait, I wasn't being serious—"

But his classmates were already moving towards the burning forest, so Neito had no choice but to follow.

.:.

"So, how many of them got away?" Izuku asked, standing right next to the flag.

After the fighting had ceased and Class 1-B retreated to who knows where, Izuku called his remaining classmates to the flag. By the time he got free from Ibara's vines and scaled the ice wall, Setsuna and her group had already disappeared from sight. From the start of the exam, roughly thirty minutes had passed.

"Monkey and steel," Katsuki said, stroking his chin. "I didn't see the guy who was swimming in the ground amongst the fallen, either."

"None of the ones I froze escaped," Shoto answered.

"When I was taking out their back line, I saw Tokage, Monoma, and Kendo fly off into the sky," Izuku shared. "Did you guys see them amongst the fallen?"

The gathered Class 1-A students all shook their heads.

"I saw them," a floating blue circle said. Toru tilted her head—not that anyone knew that she was doing such a thing—and continued, "They didn't notice me, but I saw Shishida and Tetsutetsu meet up with Tokage's group and decide to go beyond the forest that we set on fire in the beginning."

Izuku looked at the remaining members of his class and considered his options. Compared to Class 1-B, they held the numerical advantage: Eijiro, Ochaco, Kyoka, Mina, Tsuyu, Hanta, Tenya, Katsuki, Shoto, Toru, Mezo, Momo, and Izuku all survived the opening combat.

"Ashido, could you take Iida, Asui, and Sero and scout out the area beyond the forest section that we lit on fire?" Izuku asked.

"Roger roger." Mina and the other three moved out soon after her words.

"No need to fight them, just let us know if they're coming." Izuku called after her before turning to those still around him. "Well, I have a plan that will make them come right to us. Shoji, Kirishima, Jiro, and Hagakure, could I ask you four to form a perimeter about fifty meters around the flag? Notify us on comms if you see any of them approaching."

With their assent, they moved off to their positions, leaving Izuku with Momo, Shoto, Katsuki, and Ochaco.

"So what's your master plan?" Katsuki asked. "Is it really gonna get them to come to us?"

Izuku shrugged. "It's up to them. Momo, do you have the microphone that I asked you to make?"

"Yes," she said, handing him a sleek black mic. "Speaker system should be set up and strong enough for anyone within a kilometer to hear, unless the forest fire damaged some wiring."

"I think it should be fine," Izuku replied, turning it on and tapping it. "Is this working?" Izuku spoke into the mic, earning a few nods from the people around him and audial confirmation over the ear pieces from the groups of people that were further away. "Fantastic."

He walked over to the five gathered "civilians"—Midnight, Hound Dog, Thirteen, Cementoss, and Lunch Rush. They were sitting there, relaxed, having been brought over to their flag by Kyoka and Koji during the preparation phase. Nothing could have prepared the five teachers for what was about to happen next.

"Class 1-B," Izuku said slowly, broadcasting his voice to almost every corner of the mini forest the mock battle was held in thanks to Momo's speaker system. "You're probably trying to come up with some sort of plan right now. I won't give you that time."

His classmates watched him with bated breath, wondering just what was about to happen next.

"We have captured five civilians," he announced, staring at the five seated teachers before him. "For every five minutes that pass without any sign from your end, I—"

His next words were spoken plainly, but they still chilled all who heard them to their core.

"I will execute one person."

Momo blinked once, twice. She looked around at the gathered heroes from Class 1-A, trying to ascertain whether or not she misheard, but the shocked looks on Katsuki's and Ochaco's faces told her all she needed to know. Even Shoto's typical impassive face was scrunched up.

"Uh, Midoriya," Ochaco began, "isn't that kinda—"

She never got a chance to finish her sentence. An overbearing weight settled over the heads of all that were present, threatening to physically crush them if they did not resist. Evidently, the teachers felt it as well, as the looks on their faces turned from relaxed and idle to one of slight panic.

Nevertheless, Katsuki snorted, headstrong through the pressure. "Damn, Deku. Yesterday really pissed you off, didn't it?"

"Maybe," he answered noncommittally, and the pressure around them decreased after Izuku spoke. Then, Izuku pointed the mic at Midnight. "Tell the heroes about yourself."

Midnight pointed at herself, unsure, and Izuku nodded. "H-Hello~" she began, unsure, "I'm your average everyday cute sixteen year old girl, Midnight-chan!"

Everyone around them swallowed, holding back the retorts that they had building up in their throats. Izuku prodded her further, asking, "What are your hopes and dreams for the future?"

"Uhh…" Midnight quickly racked her brain, "to go to U.A. University and create a harem of cute boys and girls that bend to my whi—"

Unfortunately, she never got to finish her sentence. Izuku punched the blue circle on her chest with just enough force to crack it, freezing up her suit. Ignoring Midnight's surprised yelp, Izuku spoke into the mic: "That's one down, four more to go. Hurry up, Class 1-B, because—time is running out."

Izuku turned the mic off, taking a deep breath.

"It's crazy how butthurt you are over that one chick beating you," Katsuki said, half in disbelief and half to temper the unease in his own heart.

"I am perfectly alright," Izuku smiled unconvincingly.

Katsuki gave him a dubious look, raising an eyebrow. Izuku stared at him out of the corner of his eye and sighed.

"Only slightly," he admitted. He turned towards Midnight and helped her get into a more comfortable position. "Sorry, sensei," Izuku apologized. "It's nothing personal. Just trying to beat Class 1-B."

Midnight laughed weakly, too shaken to say anything. She could not move because of the suit hardening around her, but the same could not be said for her fellow teachers. Even though they were capable of moving, they sat there, dumbstruck and overwhelmed by the ferocious pressure that they felt emanating from All Might's successor. She looked at Izuku, and he smiled kindly at her, acting no different from the adorable boy that she had met all those months ago.

But—Midnight saw. She saw the potential for terrible, terrible things lurking in his eyes, thinly veiled underneath the guise of a hero.

"Thank you for being so cooperative," Izuku bowed slightly at the other teachers. "You are all free to do whatever you want now—I won't stop you as long as you don't interact with Class 1-B. The important thing is the illusion, after all."

He stared off into the distance towards the area beyond the forest that they had burned down.

"Well, the ball's in their court now."

.:.

"Now, I don't say this often, but… Class 1-A is psychotic," Jurota said. "Scratch that. Midoriya is psychotic."

Setsuna almost agreed. They were hiding in a small grove of trees beyond the burning forest and near the catapults that Ochaco used to launch her classmates earlier. All that separated them and the flag was a large hill sparsely decorated with trees and bushes.

She looked around at her classmates. Of the original twenty, only six survived the brutal opening melee: Juzo, Itsuka, Jurota, Neito, Tetsutetsu, and herself. With their back line single handedly decimated by Izuku and most of their frontline wiped after they were separated by Shoto's ice, things were looking bleak for their class. Juzo only managed to escape Shoto's ice by the skin of his teeth and join up with them.

Tetsutetsu grumbled, "We can't sit here and do nothing."

"I mean," Neito suggested, "we could, technically."

Itsuka whacked him on the head. "Dude, they've captured civilians. Treat this like an actual raid."

"We'll be sitting ducks if we go out there," Neito countered. "They outnumber us… what, two to one?"

"That's just an estimate, though," Jurota said.

Tetsutetsu frowned and scratched his head. "Say, even if we are successful, turn the tables on them, and make it out with the flag… our grade is going to be hurt if we don't do anything about the civilians."

The six stared at each other, struggling to come up with a plan of attack. Neito closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose, and sighed.

"Well, regardless… it's clear that Midoriya is the brains of the operation," Neito huffed, taking his fingers off his face and interlocking them. "I officially take back what I said earlier—Midoriya's scary as shit. Sorry, Tokage."

"I'm not gonna sit here and say I told you so," Setsuna sighed. "That'd be a waste of time. We need to figure out what we'll be doing from here on out. Instead of having a few hours to think about a new plan and whittle down Class 1-A, Midoriya just gave us a twenty minute time limit."

Neito glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "Got another miracle left in you? The only way we stand a snowball's chance in hell is if we get rid of him."

Setsuna stared down at her hands, splitting off a fist. "It only worked that time because he was distracted saving Bakugo. And I had backup, distractions. I don't think—"

She remembered the look on his face as his suit froze feeling of her fist connecting with the hand protecting his blue circle, akin to punching a concrete wall. Setsuna frowned.

"Yeah, I know that I won't be able to pull that off again under these circumstances," Setsuna said.

Neito frowned. "Well, shit. So we have to deal with hostages, Green, Yellow, and Red, probably being outnumbered two to one, and the flag."

The six all stared at each other, racking their brains. If what Izuku said was true, they did not have that much time to think.

Setsuna finally spoke. "Monoma, take Honenuki's Quirk. Swim through the ground and see if you two can rescue the civilians. At the same time, Shishida, Kendo, and Tetsutetsu, you three launch a direct attack on their position. I have the most mobility, so I'll see what I can do about the flag."

Tetsutetsu grinned as Neito copied Juzo's Quirk. "So you're basically asking for us three to be bait."

"Put simply, yes," Setsuna said.

"I'll be the best fucking bait to ever bait," he declared, looking at Jurota and Itsuka. With an exasperated look on her face, Itsuka agreed to the plan, and Jurota gave a simple nod.

"Well," Setsuna looked at the other five remaining classmates, "good luck."

She watched as Jurota, Itsuka, and Tetsutetsu ran up the hill, and the sounds of fighting almost immediately broke out the moment that they dipped beyond her view. With a short explanation from Juzo on how to use his Quirk, Juzo and Neito dove into the softened ground and made their way towards their location a bit away from Jurota's distraction.

Setsuna split and took to the sky, passing by the battle with Jurota's group. They had stumbled upon Mina, Tenya, Tsuyu, and Hanta as Mina's group was presumably looking for them, and they appeared evenly matched. Though the Class 1-A members didn't quite have the raw strength and durability that her three classmates had, they made up for it in speed and maneuverability… until she spotted Izuku bounce into the fray with strands of darkness.

She thought about taking a potshot at him, but Izuku's right hand was still stubbornly protecting his core. Knowing that it was only a matter of time before the bait squad went down, Setsuna took comfort in the fact that they had managed to draw out Izuku. Hopefully, Juzo and Neito could take care of the hostages, and she could do something about the flag.

As she flew over, she split herself into the maximum number of fragments that she could handle. With fifty bits of Setsuna weaving around in the air, she experimentally tried flying close and away from the flag, attempting to bait out the cannons firing nets that she had run into before. A tall brunette—Momo Yaoyorozu—stood beside the flag, a chestplate covering her blue circle and hand on a trigger.

Finally, Momo took the bait, firing four nets at her. Because she knew about them now, Setsuna managed to evade all of them, and once they were safely by her, she swooped down to grab the flag—

Only to have it encased in a dome of ice.

Setsuna immediately attempted to retreat, sensing Shoto's presence, but she was not ready for what happened next: five additional cannons, beyond the four original ones and painted a matte green to better disguise themselves amongst the shrubbery, fired off wide nets designed to catch Setsuna's split pieces.

Although she tried to have as many pieces escape as possible, the cannons were just too close and nets too many. Over eighty percent of her was captured in those nets, pinned down by the sticky substance on the nets. Setsuna immediately made the decision to abandon those pieces, forcibly regathering into one whole and regenerating her lost pieces.

Setsuna was not able to remember the last time she had to regenerate such a large portion of herself, leaving her completely winded as she landed on the ground and collapsed to her knees. As she fought the urge to throw up, she looked up and saw Momo pointing a blunt short sword at her through her blurry and spotty vision.

Right as Setsuna prepared herself to dodge her swing, something unexpected happened: Momo's sword exploded off its hilt, flying forward with perfect accuracy and shattering her blue core.

Well, shit, Setsuna thought. "All this effort for lil' ol' me?" she said, weakly laughing in an attempt to hide her frustration as her uniform froze up.

Momo walked over to make sure that her circle was broken. "You were the one Izuku was worried the most about, after all."

"I… guess I should take that as a compliment, then?"

But even that was not enough to make her feel better.

Once Jurota was and Tetsutetsu was taken down by a combined effort of Class 1-A, Itsuka was defeated in hand-to-hand combat by Izuku, and Juzo and Neito were flushed out of the ground by Katsuki and Shoto, Class 1-B met their defeat within fifty minutes of the exam's start.

Setsuna tried not to let the frustration consume her as Power Loader came over and unfroze her suit.

.:.

As Izuku was exiting Ground Omega with his friends, someone was waiting for him on the path back to the dorms.

"Hey, Midoriya," Itsuka greeted, offering a wave. "Got a minute?"

Izuku looked at the people that he was walking with. Tenya nodded, giving him the go ahead, and Shoto just cast a side-long glance at the final member of their party: Momo. Said girl had an interesting expression on her face—one that Izuku couldn't easily decipher—but she ultimately nodded and gave her approval. Izuku turned towards Itsuka and said, "Sure."

"We'll go on ahead then, Midoriya," Tenya called out, walking forward. "Are we still having the class meeting at the same time as yesterday?"

With verbal confirmation from Izuku, the three left, though he caught Momo throwing him a look or three before disappearing into the distance. He motioned with his hand and said simply, "After you."

They walked a short distance to a seating area with an umbrella. Because this round of the exam concluded so quickly, it was still around noon, and the sun was high up in the sky. She took a seat with Izuku following after her.

"So, what did you want to talk about, Kendo?" Izuku asked. He really did not know what the orange-haired girl wanted; maybe it was something related to their class rep duties?

Itsuka rested her chin on her hands as she contemplated how to breach the topic. Taking a breath, she decided to just dive in: "Does the name Saitama's Dojo ring any bells?"

Izuku blinked in surprise. That was not a name that he had heard in quite some time. "Yeah, it does. I used to learn how to fight from there. Why do you ask?"

Itsuka let out a loud sigh of relief. "Oh, thank God I was right. I couldn't really tell when you were moving around at such high speeds, but when we fought earlier today, I recognized your style."

"You recognized…?" Izuku repeated, tilting his head. "Were we—"

Sparing Izuku the embarrassment of having to half-ass a guess, Itsuka told him, "I trained at Saitama's Dojo, too. We weren't sparring partners, so I didn't really know you that well, but… I don't know, I just have a good memory for faces."

She had a sneaking suspicion that she knew Izuku from her past when she first "officially" met him, and it made her glad to see that suspicion validated. The desire to talk to him just bubbled up to the surface after Itsuka finally recognized his movement during the exam.

On the other hand, Izuku did not really remember the people that he trained with. Seeing Izuku's apologetic face, Itsuka laughed it off. "Don't worry, I didn't expect you to remember me, we didn't talk much. I just remembered you because—well, never mind."

Itsuka laughed and looked off to the side. Thankfully, Izuku did not pry, and even if he did, there was no way that she could tell him that.

In her memories, she distinctly remembered one conversation with Izuku's younger self, back when they were in late middle school. She remembered it because… well, it was embarrassing to even acknowledge it in her mind, but Itsuka remembered it because it served as a source of inspiration for her. In that conversation, Izuku had said that, despite being Quirkless, he still wanted to try and become a hero.

That had been powerful and deeply moving for Itsuka at that moment. It was another random conversation not even worth remembering for Izuku, a conversation made during warmups for yet another day of training, but for Itsuka, it had struck a chord and helped drive her forward. If a kid without a Quirk was trying so hard to become a hero, what was her excuse?

In all honesty, Itsuka doubted her eyes when she saw Izuku again all these years later. After all, Izuku said he was Quirkless, and her mind could never equate the two people in her head until she received verbal confirmation just then. He must have been a late bloomer when it came to his Quirk.

"Well, I'm still sorry," Izuku offered, slightly bowing his head.

Itsuka waved her hands in front of her face. "Really, there's no need. I stopped going after I moved away, and it was a long time ago. And I looked pretty different. I had short hair back then."

Izuku nodded and—wait. Now that he thought about it more carefully, Izuku did remember an orange-haired kid with a short bowl cut at his dojo. He'd even been on trips to tournaments with this person. But the thing was—

Izuku had always thought that "Ken" was a boy.

He looked at Itsuka and decided against telling her that. There were some things that ought to be hidden away, and Izuku was pretty sure that saying that was an illegal maneuver on his end.

But… was it really his fault for not recognizing her? After all, they were younger when they went to the dojo, and… Izuku was only comfortable admitting this in his mind, but "Ken" was flat as a board, used masculine pronouns, and had an overall rough personality. Now, Itsuka had two very distinct features on her chest that betrayed her gender in a single glance. The two could not have looked further apart.

His mind barely registered the fact that Itsuka had continued talking. "But still… you pulled a pretty dirty trick at the end today with the whole hostage thing."

"Well, I have to use everything at my disposal because I'm not allowed to utilize some parts of my Q—Quirk." Izuku scratched the back of his neck. "It worked, didn't it?"

Itsuka frowned. So, Setsuna's hunch was correct. "Yeah, but that's besides the point."

"Wait, what did you do with the civilians during your round?" Izuku asked, genuinely curious. He remembered not seeing a single one of them yesterday.

"Well," Itsuka said, "we did something kinda similar. When we spotted Midnight-sensei just walking around the grounds and asked her what she was doing, we found out that there were four others, so we sent out a few people to round them up and evacuate them to a safe place. But we never thought of using them the way you did… takes a pretty messed up mind to think of something like that."

Looking at Izuku's nonplussed reaction, she quickly amended, "Just kidding. I'm just surprised Monoma didn't think of something like that first. I guess we were way too focused on figuring out how to take down the color trifecta of Class 1-A to come up with anything like that."

Izuku tilted his head. "Color trifecta?"

"You, Bakugo, Todoroki," Itsuka summed simply. "Green, Yellow, Red."

"Oh, we have something similar," Izuku shared, "but we just call them priority targets. We have fourish, but the one I'm most interested in is Setsuna Tokage."

"I see, I see," she nodded. "You mean like interested in as in, like, the context of the exam, right?"

"No," Izuku corrected. "Interested in on a personal level."

Itsuka nodded again, blinking.

Then her heart stopped.

"What."

"That girl? Setsuna Tokage. I'm interested in her." Izuku repeated.

He wasn't lying. Setsuna intrigued him on a fundamental level, as she was the one who dealt the finishing blow to him. Izuku wanted to know more about the girl—what made her tick, her strengths and weaknesses—in order to better defeat her next time they squared up against each other. She had been taken out by Momo this round, but Izuku wanted his revenge.

For Itsuka, his words held a different meaning, and that was the birth of a critical misunderstanding. Itsuka, who didn't even know Izuku had a girlfriend yet, took his words as: oh yeah, Setsuna? I'm interested in her. Romantically.

Her voice suddenly very small, Itsuka said, "Oh, uhm, thank you for trusting me like that. Do… do you want me to let her know?"

Izuku looked at her, a bit confused. "You can do whatever you want…?"

Watching as Itsuka twiddled her thumbs, Izuku had the dim feeling that they weren't on the same page, but before he could say anything, Itsuka squeezed out a quick "U-Understood!" and quickly retreated, all but running away. Her face seemed a bit flushed, too.

Izuku sighed. Hopefully this won't come back and bite him in the ass later.

.:.

"Alright, let's have a productive meeting," Tenya said, standing up in front of his gathered classmates. The atmosphere in the common room was a lot more relaxed than the previous day, mostly due to their victory.

However, one question still hung heavy on the minds of a few of Izuku's classmates. "Hey," Ochaco said, unsure, "won't we get points off for how we used the civilians earlier today?"

"Yeah," Eijiro added. "That wasn't… exactly the most heroic thing to do."

A few classmates nodded in agreement.

Izuku had an answer ready. "I know, but I made sure that if anyone gets points deducted from their exam for that, it would only be me. After all, I didn't tell you guys the reason why I asked Jiro and Koda to gather the civilians, and I pretty much decided to do it unilaterally. None of you had any say in it, so the blame rests solely on me."

While there were still some individuals who looked unconvinced, the fact that it would not negatively impact their own grade was enough to assuage the vast majority of the class's fears.

"I've got another question," Mina said, raising her hand. "Midoriya… how did you take out that many of Class 1-B's members? I thought you said that you'd be restricted in your Quirk's usage."

Izuku thought carefully about how to answer the question. The reality of the situation was as follows: as he leapt down the Class 1-B's back lines from Shoto's ice wall a little bit of time after Tsuyu and Hanta made their descent, he thought to himself, it would be really nice if I didn't have to face all of them at once. To his utmost shock, a calm yet friendly voice told him, my Quirk can help you out with that.

Izuku was not sure if he had used it subconsciously in the past before or not, but he was certain that that was the first time he had used the sixth's Quirk Smokescreen purposefully.

"I can make smoke," he said simply. "I just used that to confuse them and take them out one by one."

"Gotcha," Mina answered, and then she registered what Izuku had said. "Wait. When could you make smoke?"

Izuku shrugged, appearing nonchalant despite internally sweating a bit. To his utter relief, Momo noticed that Izuku was not quite ready to answer that question, and despite her own curiosity on the matter, she intervened. "We can talk about that later. For now, let's congratulate ourselves on a job well done and prepare for the final stage tomorrow."

"Right," Tenya said. "This time, we will have to focus on both offense and defense."

As Tenya began to outline the plan that Izuku had drawn up earlier, he thought to himself for a brief moment. He was the ninth user of One For All. How could he access and, for the lack of a better word, unlock the Quirks of those who came before him? Was there something specific that triggered it, or was it completely random like with Blackwhip and Smokescreen?

Izuku shook his head to clear his mind of extraneous thoughts. Those questions could be focused on and pondered over after the exams were over.

For now, he had to focus on what was right before him: the last battle of the Inter-Class War and the enigmatic practical exam.

He was looking forward to it.

---

A few notes:

1. I'm back! Sorry it took so long to update. As compensation, I hope that you have all enjoyed this massive chapter—the longest one (so far) for Unbreakable—almost 18.5 K words. Please let me know what you thought about it in a review! It was actually reading your reviews that gave me the drive to finish writing this. Also, we are nearing 3000 follows! I never imagined that my fic would have so many people enjoying it, and I hope that I'll be able to keep entertaining you all with my writing!

2. The idea of AFO teaching Izuku about the differences between platonic and romantic relationships was just too humorous to me.

3. Since I'm not as familiar with Class 1-B, I hope I didn't mix up any names. If I did, please point it out to me and I'll fix it.

3. Hopefully you may have noticed how Izuku increasingly gets more and more unhinged as more memories return to him, with Himiko leading him down that path. Is this a good thing or not? I'll leave it up to you to decide. Let me know what you all think.

4. Shoto and Momo's interactions are a joy to write. I just wanted to highlight something that was discussed there: the idea that a hero is a person, too.

5. Does Himiko's and Izuku's relationship seem unhealthy or healthy to you? Ah ha ha ha.

6. I'm not sure why I decided on Setsuna Tokage as my POV character for Class 1-B. It's probably because I think her Quirk is the most interesting, and I like her personality. Expect some more shenanigans involving her, Izuku, Momo, Himiko, and Itsuka.