Practical

Taking a deep breath, Izuku pulled another quirk from his chest – the last one he needed - adding to the inferno burning away beneath his skin. He felt his muscles bulge ever so slightly with the added strength.

He'd been slowly pulling on them through the bus ride over, and then in the few minutes they'd all been standing around outside of the testing site, adding them to the pile one by one. With the last one, he now had a grand total of four strength and speed quirks, and both of his durability quirks active. He was ready for the practical.

He clenched a fist in front of him, rolling his neck to loosen his muscles, taking satisfaction in the heat that flowed through them. The raw power that thrummed in his veins wasn't something he often got to enjoy, as his usual opponents were only ever humans. Enhanced humans, sure, but humans all the same. They were much too fragile to use any real strength against. Even at his normal level, he still had to make sure he didn't hit them too harshly or in the wrong spot, all to make sure that they didn't die on impact.

But now, his opponents were robots. Inanimate targets that needed to be shown no mercy whatsoever. He could punch, crush, and tear his way through them with no regard to how they ended up when he was done, because the whole point of the exam was to destroy them anyway. And if they were equipped to fight back, then all the better. That would just make things that much more interesting.

His hearts were starting to beat faster in anticipation. He was getting excited now.

As a final piece of preparation, he put in his wireless earbuds, appearing to the other applicants as if he were listening to music. He wasn't though, no matter what his appearance might suggest. It wasn't a great idea to cover up an entire sense like that during a fight. Outside of quirks and instincts, auditory cues were the most important, right along with sight.

No, as soon as they were in, and he pressed the discreet button on the side of one, they opened a direct line of communication to Rei, back in their apartment. It was a very similar, but less obvious version of what he used when he was out as Oni. With these, he'd be able to talk to her as he worked his way through the exam.

She'd also found a way to get into Yueii's systems and, subsequently, their cameras. He wasn't entirely sure he understood the process, even though she'd explained it to him, but all that really mattered to him was that she would essentially have a front row seat to the action.

Izuku directed his attention to the massive gates ahead of him, as he and the other applicants – most still preparing themselves for the fight ahead – waited for the announcement to start. Even after witnessing the impressive nature of Yueii's main building, he was still shocked by the sheer scale of the training facilities they had at their disposal.

He could see the tops of mock buildings poking up above the fence that surrounded the site. It must've been the size of about four city blocks, if not bigger. And there were seven sites in total. It was mind-boggling to think that Yueii essentially had an entire city in their back yard.

One of the benefits of having a hero like Cementoss working as a teacher he supposed. They could move mountains of building material with little effort, and then maintain it just as easily.

A bit of movement caught his eye, and his attention was drawn to a figure just ahead of him. It was the girl from earlier; Uraraka. She seemed to be preparing herself for the exam mentally.

He briefly considered going over to speak with her, but quickly dismissed the thought. There would be no benefit to doing so. He had no way of knowing whether or not she would even make it into the hero course, so why bother. Besides, it wouldn't be fair to her to interrupt her focus right before the exam began.

Izuku was drawn from his thoughts by 'Proximity.' It was picking up something directly behind him. Someone was moving straight for him. From what he could tell, they were reaching a hand out for his shoulder.

He ignored the brief twinge of panic that shot up his spine. And fought the urge to attack.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." He announced. "Unless you want me to break your hand."

The figure behind him froze in place, arm still extended.

Turning around to face them, he was met with a tall, blue-haired boy. Their arm was still reaching for him, and they had a shocked expression on their face. He seemed to be at a loss for words; either because of his threat or because he noticed them to begin with.

While he waited for the other to get himself together, Izuku strained his eyes, using 'Appraisal' on him.

[Name: Tenya Iida]

[Quirk: Engine]

[Mutative-type quirk that gives the user car-like engines in their calves. Engines significantly boost the user's running speed and kicking power. Engines have multiple gears that increase output in stages.]

As the description concluded, the other – Iida – seemed to finally catch up, snapping to a ramrod-straight posture.

"You!" He started, much louder than necessary, drawing the attention of several nearby applicants. "Why are you here!? Is it so you can make a mockery of such an honored establishment? Or are you here to distract those that wish to take this exam seriously?"

Izuku blinked in mild surprise. What on Earth was he talking about?

"I have no idea what you're talking about." He said, voicing said confusion.

Iida pushed his glasses up, before chopping the same hand through the air towards him.

"Your attire! It is extremely unfitting for any physical exam, let alone one hosted by Yueii! And you're wearing headphones! It's clear that you don't intend to take this seriously!"

Izuku glanced down at his clothes, an eyebrow raised. He was wearing pretty much the same thing he'd arrived in. He'd left his overcoat, tie, and gloves on the bus along with his bag. And was left with his button-up – which he'd rolled the sleeves up above his elbows – and his vest.

"Damn. This guy sounds like a hardass." Rei chimed in from where she was listening. "I wonder who pissed in his cereal this morning."

Izuku found himself wondering the same thing as his gaze returned to Iida. Sure, he wasn't wearing an athletic suit like most everyone else was, but what did it matter? He didn't wear athletic clothes, and had no interest in going out to buy any. His entire wardrobe consisted mainly of clothes almost exactly like what he was wearing, and a few more casual items for when he was hanging around the apartment.

Besides, if nothing else, he was more comfortable fighting like this than he would be wearing anything else.

"I'm sorry." He started. "But I fail to see the issue here. Why does it matter to you what I'm wearing?"

That seemed to do nothing but get the other even more riled up.

"Because you are disrespecting Yueii and, by extension, all of the great heroes that have ever passed through its gates by showing so little care for the exam! You should not have come here if weren't planning on taking this seriously!"

Izuku sighed. He was already tired of this exchange. He didn't come here to be accused of not caring about this. In fact, he was almost willing to put money down that he cared more than anyone else that had come to take the exam.

"Look here, smaller, less-likeable Ingenium." He began. That statement already drawing a shocked expression from the other. "Do me a favor, and worry about yourself first. Instead of focusing on what I choose to wear, maybe try to focus on getting points before I do. Because if you're not careful, there won't be any left for you when I'm done."

He jabbed a finger in the other's direction. "I came here to pass this exam, just like everyone else. The only difference is that when it all ends, I'm going to be the one standing on top."

"Besides." He added as he moved to turn away. "If you're so convinced that I'm not taking the exam seriously, then that should be good news for you. I'd be one less obstacle in your way."

He didn't bother waiting for Iida's reaction as he moved away, heading for the entrance to the site. A few snickers reached his ears from the people closest to them, obviously amused by the interaction. Rei evidently thought it was funny too; he could hear her in his ear.

"That was great." She said. "I hope you don't mind, I'm definitely saving that for later. I just wish that there was a good camera angle to see his expression."

Izuku just grunted in response. "How could someone so uptight be related to Ingenium?" He asked quietly. "That man rivals Present Mic with how upbeat and laid back he is."

Ingenium ranked among the most popular heroes in the country. He was extremely well-liked, and took his hero work far beyond simple apprehension of criminals. His charity work alone put most other heroes to shame. It was a stark contrast to the uptight robot he'd just spoken to.

"I have no idea." She responded. "But I like that bit you said about taking all the points. Is that what you're going for now?"

He paused right in front of the closed gate, and glanced down at his hands. Irritation bubbled in his chest. Iida's accusation that he didn't care had irked him more than he'd realized.

"Y'know what? Fuck it. I was already going to put effort into this to make sure I came out on top. But now?"

His hands clenched into fists as he pulled on one more strength quirk.

"Let's make it so it's not even close."

Just as he said that, the massive doors slid open, revealing the fake city. None of the robots were visible, but he knew that the site must be crawling with them.

The other applicants crowded forwards, clustering near the entrance as they awaited the signal to start. Izuku gathered his tail close, muscles tensing in preparation to move.

Minutes stretched on as they continued to wait. Long enough that many of the other applicants started to relax from their previous excitement. Very few had remained poised to move. From where he was positioned in the crowd, he could make out the forms of Uraraka and Iida both set in a runner's stance as they waited.

Izuku remained poised as well, ready to spring into action the second things got started. The more time that passed, the more the world around him began to fade into the background. His eyes were trained on the road ahead of him, until even the motions of other applicants in the corners of his eyes faded away. And his hearing was so focused on listening for the signal to start, that the only sound that was present in the world was that of his own heartbeat, steadily speeding up as the minutes passed. His body was already producing adrenaline in anticipation for the coming fight.

This was likely Yueii's goal; a bit of mind-play to throw people off towards the beginning. They wanted to separate those that were truly prepared from those that were either stupid, over-confident, or simply unprepared. They'd probably further accentuate that with a sudden start rather than a countd-

He was drawn from his thoughts by Present Mic's voice sounding out across the space.

"AAANND BEGINNNN!" He shouted, sounding just as loud as he had been in the auditorium, despite whatever distance that now separated him from everyone.

"WHAT'S THE MATTER!?" He continued when most of the applicants remained in place, looking at each other in confusion. "THERE'S NO COUNTDOWN IN REAL LIFE! THE CLOCK IS TICKING LISTENERS!"

They took that as their signal to start, finally surging forwards into the site.

A select few though, had already started moving.

Izuku had launched himself forwards the moment the first words had left the hero's mouth. Uraraka and Iida had followed barely a moment later, sprinting down the fake road. Iida's quirk fired as he ran, propelling him down the street at incredible speeds, but not quite fast enough to catch up to Izuku.

As the rest of the applicants poured in, they filtered out through the streets, many turning down side paths to hunt robots.

Izuku went straight down the main street, making a beeline for the center of the site. As he rounded one of the buildings, he caught site of a few robots. Four two-armed ones moving around on one wheel – not much larger than he was – and one quadrupedal with a scorpion-like tail. Four one-pointers and one two-pointer. They all turned towards him as he approached.

The one-pointers took off towards him, arms reeling back to strike him, while the two-pointer seemed to be circling around to his left, the tip of its tail trained on him.

'One-pointers are close quarters.' His mind supplied as they drew closer. 'Two-pointers are long-range. They're programmed to fight cohesively.'

A smirk appeared on his face. Oh, this was going to be fun.

He didn't slow down at all as he reached them. The first threw one of its metal fists at him. His own flew forwards to meet it.

His fist tore straight through the robot's, the arm crumpling and tearing off at the shoulder with the screeching complaint of shearing metal. His other fist followed an instant later, impacting its head, crushing it.

He dimly recognized that the metal felt weaker than it ought to. Yueii might've done that to make it easier for applicants to show what they could do, or make it easier for non-physical quirks. Or maybe it was because he had five strength quirks burning through him. Either way, the fight was far from over.

The second robot followed just after the first. He ducked under the incoming blow, weaving around it and skipping straight to the third. This one met a similar fate as the first, its head crumpling as he struck it. At the same time, his tail wrapped around the second one, restricting its movement.

As he moved to the final one-pointer, a light in the corner of his eye caught his attention. A quick glance showed that the two-pointer had stopped moving. The tip of its tail was glowing brighter as it pointed at him.

'A laser?' He thought. 'For disorientation, or for damage?'

He decided not to wait around to find out. Weaving around the final one-pointer's attacks, he shot his right arm out, impaling it into its torso. Without so much as a grunt of exertion, the robot was lifted over his head and, an instant later, was soaring through the air at the two-pointer. The two collided in a mess of metal limbs, destroying both.

With the rest dealt with, he spared a glance at the one wrapped in his tail. He could see, and feel, where it was struggling to move. A slight flex of his tail and the robot was crushed. The powerful muscles barely even strained to do so.

His smirk grew. He'd always wanted to do that; to just fucking crush something with his tail like that. What was the point in being half anaconda, if he couldn't crush things with his tail from time to time?

A crash from close by drew him from his thoughts. Another robot had broken through the wall of a nearby building. It rode on tank treads, had two arms that made up about half of its body, and had some form of multi-barreled weapon on its back. A three pointer then; a mix of long, and short-range combat.

It charged at him, much like the one-pointers had. But at the same time, he watched as the weapons on its back adjusted to aim at him.

He rushed forwards to meet it, already tensing in preparation for whatever projectile it was about to fire at him. He doubted that Yueii would use live ammunition in their entrance exam, but they had plenty of interesting alternatives to choose from.

Just as that thought passed through his mind, he saw the muzzle flashes, and felt something pepper across the front of his torso. A quick glance revealed that it had fired rubber bullets at him; barely felt through the durability quirk that toughened his skin.

Tanking through the hail of bullets, he ended the robot with a punch to its head, crushing it into the ground.

Looking up from its remains, he noticed the surge of applicants that had finally decided to take part in the exam. It had been less than thirty seconds since the start, and he had nine points. And the fun had only just begun.

Smirk still in place, he took off; he had more robots to fight.

---

Shouta watched from inside his sleeping bag – even though he was sitting up in a seat – as the practical exam went underway, as applicants destroyed the robots with a variety of quirks at their disposal.

"We've got a pretty good group this year." One of the other teachers announced. "I don't think we've ever had so many that reacted right off the bat like this."

Several of the main screens up on the wall were focused on a few such applicants. The few that hadn't hesitated when Hizashi announced the start. That was always an interesting aspect to observe; who hesitated, and for how long, and who charged forwards immediately. Regardless of quirk or potential, that at least showed who could remain focused in the minutes before the exam started, and who could react at the drop of a hat.

His own personal screen was trained on a blonde applicant in site Delta. They were one of the few who hadn't hesitated. They'd very quickly worked their way to the center of the site and began taking apart the robots with ruthless efficiency, the explosion quirk they wielded serving to attract more robots with the noise. He watched their movements and the control they displayed over their quirk.

It was obvious right away that they had a ridiculous degree of control over it. Every explosion was the perfect size for the situation. He could see the tiny adjustments made every time they used it to maneuver himself, and they seemed to be aware of the destruction it caused to everything around them, not just the robots. Every blast sent shrapnel flying away from him, but they always went in a direction that was clear of applicants, and occasionally one that contained more robots.

He was interested to see how they would do overall. Part of him hoped that they would end up in his class. He had no way of judging their personality just yet. But based on their performance in combat, they seemed to have some potential.

A question from someone off to his side drew him from his thoughts.

"Toshinori. You said that you already knew Izuku Etsumi from before?"

That was Nemuri. she was staring up at one of the main screens with barely concealed shock. All Might was sitting next to her with a very similar expression. She must've been in the observation room when he and Hizashi had come up earlier.

"Y-yes. I did."

"Well did you know he was like that?"

Raising an eyebrow, Shouta directed his attention to the screen in question.

Etsumi was centered on the screen, and he saw immediately where the surprise came from.

The applicant was surrounded by the remains of who-knew-how-many robots – which in itself would not be surprising were it not for the fact that there were no other applicants anywhere near him – and was in the middle of fighting more.

Three one-pointers were wrapped up in his tail, all struggling to get loose. The decapitated head of what Shouta thought to be a three-pointer was gripped in his left hand, and his right was impaled into a two-pointer, lifting it up off the ground.

Apart from the rest of the odd scene, the fact that he was holding up a robot one-handed was impressive in itself; even with the weaker metal, those things weighed in the hundreds of pounds.

"N-no." Toshinori finally responded. "I had no idea. We've been meeting for lunch for months now, and at no point did he give the impression that he was so strong."

As he said that, the fight on-screen continued. A hail of rubber projectiles rained from somewhere off to the side. They peppered across his body, and he could see where they clearly impacted across his face, but Etsumi barely reacted. Instead, he threw the severed head in his hand in the direction the bullets came from. An instant later, the live scoreboard that showed each applicant's points – which was another point of surprise as his score was nearly double the person below him, the blonde that Shouta had been watching –, added another three points to his total.

With that hand free, he jammed it into the two-pointer with his other one and, with no discernible effort, tore the robot almost neatly in half. At the same time, his tail tightened around the robots it held, crushing them and leaving nothing but scrap metal.

With the immediate threats dealt with, Etsumi took off once more, almost too fast for the cameras to keep track with, and quickly faced down the next group.

Shouta fought down a wave of exhaustion as he watched Etsumi ruthlessly tear into robot after robot, all with what he quickly realized was a manic smile on his face. He wasn't sure why he felt like that; he hadn't felt such exhaustion from the blonde one after all. There was just something about Etsumi that made Shouta want to curl up and fall into a coma.

That child was going to be in his class, and he would bring a massive fucking headache with him. Shouta could already feel it.

Because there was no question at this point that he would pass. He'd been the first to gain any points, quickly putting him at the top of the leaderboard, and he'd held on to that position for the entire exam thus far. Even if he stopped getting any points right that second, he'd still easily be in the top thirty-six, which was all the empty seats they had after accepting the recommendation students.

Shouta sighed, and returned his attention to his own screen, cycling through the other applicants to look for someone interesting.

---

Izuku let out a deep, booming laugh as he threw a three-pointer into group of three tightly packed one-pointers, destroying all of them, a smile on his face that had made even hardened criminals turn tail and flee.

"Soo, how's it going?" He heard Rei ask in his ear. "Sounds like your having quite a bit of fun."

"Oh yes." Izuku responded, eyes locking onto the next group of robots. He was on them in an instant, tearing into them. "They're just so… breakable. It's so satisfying to be able to hit something without worrying about harming it too much."

"Well, just so you know, you're currently sitting with the most points out of all the other applicants, by a fairly large amount. But only about half of the allotted time has passed so far. So you've got plenty of time to keep cutting loose."

His smile remained in place as he took off once more in search of robots. He had been fighting from the moment Present Mic gave the signal to start. After that first group, he'd been working his way through the faux city at a steady pace, taking apart any robot that made the mistake of getting too close.

For some reason, he hadn't seen many other applicants since the first surge he saw, and he was almost right in the center of the site. He figured that they were keeping their distance in an attempt to find robots that he hadn't destroyed, or were avoiding him entirely for the dangerous aura he was emitting.

Coming up on a side street, he heard sounds of fighting just out of sight. Rounding the corner, he took in the sight in an instant. Four robots – three one-pointers and a three-pointer, had surrounded an applicant, raining blows down on him. To his credit though, he seemed to be fending them off well enough. His skin had a rocky texture to it, and was obviously hardened to match going by how the metal of the robots was sparking off of him. All the same though, the robots had forced him on the defensive, it didn't look like he was able to counter.

Izuku didn't hesitate. Charging forwards, he weaved around the two closest, wrapping his tail around them as he focused on the third. A quick punch sent it flying into the wall behind it, putting it out of commission. The other two quickly met a similar fate as he crushed them in his tail, leaving only the three-pointer.

The other applicant didn't hesitate to take the opportunity that Izuku provided. He charged at the final robot, his stony skin ignoring the rubber bullets. Tanking a fist thrown by the robot, he threw a series of his own punches, each one crumpling the metal until a final one tore into it, halting its movements.

Huffing, the applicant looked over at Izuku. He heard a quiet "Manly," as they saw the remains of the one-pointers still wrapped in his tail.

"Thanks man!" They shouted. "Good luck with the rest!"

And with that, they turned to run away in search of more. Izuku quickly followed suit, turning in a different direction.

The exam quickly took on a pattern from there. Izuku would speed through the city until he found a robot, he'd destroy it, and then he would start back from square one. Occasionally, he would come across applicants in a similar situation as the last on he saw; struggling to handle a fight, either from being outnumbered or from exhaustion catching up to them. He'd step in to help those few that needed it, usually leaving one or two alive for them to deal with. After all, there was little point in helping them if he took the robots that they were already actively working for.

As the exam continued on, eventually he heard Rei chime in that there were about two minutes left. He took a deep breath as he moved, preparing to up the ante for the final stretch, when the entire exam site seemed to start shaking. It was as there was an earthquake. He would've thought that were the case were it not for the sound of a collapsing building behind him.

Halting his movements, he turned to investigate the source of the commotion, only to be faced with a robot the size of the buildings around it.

Somehow, his smile seemed to grow in intensity. "Finally. It's about time they let the zero-pointers out to play."

As he watched it roll forwards, he dimly noticed that the other applicants were running from it, towards the entrance. One of them shouted at him to run as they passed. He ignored them, instead choosing to move towards it at a walking pace.

His heart was picking up speed. Everything was in chaos.

"I want to fight it." He announced.

"What?" He heard Rei respond. "Wait, no. There's literally no point. Either get away from it or find some more points."

He ignored her advice, pausing to stare at the still-approaching robot.

"I'm going to fight it."

"Izuku, no!"

"Izuku yes!"

His wings flared out, driving downwards as they launched him into the air, augmented by the strength quirks he had active. He flew straight towards it.

It seemed to notice him, and one of its gargantuan fists pulled back to strike him out of the air. His own fist reeled back to mirror it, and he pulled 'Air Cannon' from his chest. Each wingbeat sent gusts of air towards the ground below, and propelled him towards the robot even faster with the addition of the quirk.

The two of them threw their fists forwards at the same time, colliding mid-air. Instantly, the metal hand crumpled inwards, and the strength quirks that burned through his limbs, combined with the newly added emitter, tore the entire arm from its body with a massive blast of air. It stumbled back – as much as a robot on massive tank treads could stumble –, adjusting its balance with the sudden disappearance of a limb.

Izuku didn't stop, he flew straight at the giant's head. His body impacted the vertical face, denting the metal with his momentum. But instead of falling away, he stuck to surface, clinging to it like an insect; a result of one of his newer additions, one of the two he'd found in his preparations for the exams.

An instant later, he was raining blows down onto the head, tearing into the metal, ripping it apart between the strength of his punches and the violent bursts of air that resulted from them.

Mere seconds later, not even a full minute since the robot had first arrived, its movements halted completely. Its head was all but completely gone, and it sat frozen where it stood.

Huffing from the exertion, but still with a manic smile on his face, Izuku pulled 'Air Cannon' back into his chest, before dropping from where he was stuck, drifting down to the ground below. When he landed, he looked around at the applicants that had stopped fleeing to watch him take on the zero-pointer. He took satisfaction in the shocked expressions they were staring at him with. A satisfaction that only increased when he noticed that Iida was one of the ones watching him.

He was about to move forwards, to head in the direction of the gate and maybe take down a few more robots if he happened to encounter them, when he heard someone cry out from somewhere off to his side.

Moving towards it to investigate, he found Uraraka on the ground, her leg pinned by a piece of rubble that had fallen from a nearby building. He could see her trying to reach for the debris – to use her quirk, maybe? – but the way she was pinned made it all but impossible to reach it with all five fingers. She was face down and trying to bend backwards to reach it.

His heart started to calm as he got closer, his expression morphing back to carefully neutral.

"Hold on a second." He called out to her. "I'll help you get out of there. Don't strain yourself more than you need to, or you might make it worse."

She looked over at him for a moment, before she seemed to register what he said. She lay back down, closing her eyes as he approached, either in pain or in exhaustion.

Stopping next to her, he reached a hand underneath the rubble that was pinning her, and lifted it into the air. She sighed in obvious relief as the weight was removed from her leg. Rolling over onto her back, she pushed herself away with her good leg. He tossed the debris away, moving over to where she'd collapsed onto the ground.

"Thank you." She huffed out, eyes still closed.

He hummed in acknowledgement, looking down at her leg. He could see where the rubble had torn her pant leg away beneath the knee, exposing her injury. Her ankle was a mess of torn skin and bruises.

Straining his eyes, he activated 'Spectrum.' Blinking, his vision became washed out and dim as he switched to x-ray. Looking down at her injury, he could see where her leg was definitely broken. Thankfully, it seemed to be a clean break. That was good; he knew from experience how much worse a break could be.

Part of him was surprised that she wasn't crying or yelling at what was definitely a painful injury. Most people would be. He suspected that she either had a higher pain tolerance, or – more likely – her body was still pumping adrenaline, dulling the pain.

Just as he was about to contemplate whether or not he should offer to carry her to the entrance, he heard Present Mic call out again.

"THAT'S IT FOLKS! THE EXAM IS OVER!" He announced. "PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE BUSES SO WE CAN GET YOU BACK TO THE MAIN BUILDING! IF YOU NEED MEDICAL ATTENTION, STAY WHERE YOU ARE, SOMEONE WILL COME TO YOU!"

Well, that answered that question at least. Looking in the direction of the entrance, he went over his points in his head as he waited for someone to retrieve Uraraka. If he was remembering correctly, and he was, then he had one hundred and forty-seven points.

His mental tally was confirmed a moment later when Rei spoke up.

"Good job out there. A hundred and forty-seven points. You're in first place by a decent amount. Second place goes to Katsuki Bakugou with eighty-six. That girl, Uraraka, is in third with fifty-four."

That brought a smile to Izuku's face. He knew that Bakugou would excel. And it seemed that Uraraka was capable on her own. Depending on how the two had done on the written portion, they'd both likely make it into the hero course.

Movement off to his side drew his attention away from Uraraka. He saw Recovery Girl making her way through the crowd of applicants, handing out her signature candies and healing a few of them with a quick kiss.

"Well then. What have we here?" She said as she approached the two of them. Uraraka opened here eyes to look at the old heroine.

"A piece of the building fell on my leg." Uraraka explained. "Etsumi helped get it off of me."

"Did he now?" She responded, sparing a glance up at him. "Well that was very nice of him. Now let's have a look at your leg, shall we?"

"It's broken." He informed her as she crouched next to Uraraka. "About two inches above the ankle as far as I can tell."

She hummed in acknowledgement. "Thank you, dearie." She said as she pressed a wrinkled hand around the injury to examine it, muttering a soft apology when the pressure caused Uraraka to cry out a bit.

One kiss later, and her leg was good back to normal, as if it hadn't been injured in the first place. She sat up, looking down at her leg with an expression that was equal parts bewildered and exhausted. The aftereffects of Recovery Girl's quirk had not been exaggerated it seemed. Her injury being healed, combined with the exhaustion she'd already been feeling because of the exam was taking its toll.

"There. Good as new." The heroine said, before looking up at Izuku. "Now. What about you, dearie? Any injuries that need to be looked at?"

"Nope." He responded. "My knuckles are a little scraped up. But that'll heal on its own in a few days anyway." That last attack against the zero-pointer had held just a bit more force than his durability quirk could handle. He wasn't concerned in the slightest; his healing quirk would have it cleaned up in no time at all.

"If that's what you want." She responded.

"Now, be a dear and carry her to the entrance for me." She said, gesturing at Uraraka. "From the looks of things, she's in no state to walk on her own. Once you're back in the main building, someone will take her to the infirmary so she can rest."

"Okay." He shrugged. Moving closer to Uraraka.

Reaching down, he offered a hand to her. She blinked up at it. It took her a moment before she finally registered what was happening, and she reached up to take it. She seemed to be barely conscious at this point.

Grasping it tightly in his, he hoisted her to her feet. Then, in one swift motion, he had her in his arms in a bridal carry. He started off towards the entrance to the site, ignoring Rei's teasing words in his ear, saying that she was already saving the video footage. A few minutes later, and they'd made it to the bus. She was asleep by the time they were on board and he was back in his spot on the bus. He'd settled her into what he assumed was her seat – going by the bag that was resting in it. The same one she'd been wearing earlier –, propping her up against the window so she wouldn't fall.

As the bus carried the applicants back to the main building, he worked to adjust his clothes, and replace the items he'd taken off for the practical. Surprisingly, his shirt and vest had remained undamaged throughout everything. Though there was some staining from where the robots' internal fluids had splattered during the fight.

Soon enough, they were getting back off the bus. She was back in his arms as he dismounted, and he handed her off to a nearby faculty member, who placed her onto a gurney and carted her off.

After making sure he had everything he'd arrived with, and double checking that there was nothing more he needed to do before he left, he spread his wings and took off.

With that done, now he simply had to wait until Yueii sent the results out. He already knew how he'd done, but it would take a few weeks for it to be officially sent out to him. Until then, he would be back to his usual schedule while he waited.

---

The observation room was alight with a mix of voices as the exam came to a close. They were watching as the applicants were herded back onto the buses. Once they were gone, the faculty would get to work judging and determining the allocation of hero points.

There were multiple people discussing the very end of the exam; when they had released the zero-pointers. One of the larger screens was replaying the footage from site Alpha, showing Etsumi decimating what should've simply been an obstacle to avoid.

Part of him – the part that wasn't utterly exhausted at the mere prospect of having Etsumi as a student – was almost impressed by the kid's abilities. Not only was he smart enough to score perfectly on the written portion, but he clearly had raw strength in spades. And while he hadn't displayed any sort of martial arts training, Shouta could see evidence of fighting experience in his movements. The way he weaved between attacks and seemed to have complete situational awareness gave the impression of someone that wasn't a stranger to fights.

Maybe the kid had taken up some form of brawling or simple boxing. With the obvious strength he had, and the weight that seemed to follow every little movement, it would make sense to go for a style that revolved around raw power and speed rather than technique. Well, that and the fact that learning martial arts would probably be a bit difficult without feet. He wasn't too sure how that would work out.

Shouta closed his eyes as he leaned back into his seat, hoping to squeeze in a nap until they started judging. Whatever. He'd have plenty of time to figure the kid out once the new year began.