Chapter 23

Aizawa Shouta is explaining to the teachers about who they're are pairing up with. He gives them a list of reasons for it too. He is not going to let this small window of opportunity close on him. No, not at all. With how awkward things have been, he is not happy with Toshinori and Izuku. They really need to make up and forgive each other, but with Yagi's stubbornness and Midoriya's trust issues-that won't happen. No, not without a little push.

"Toshinori, you're against Bakugou and Midoriya."

All Might is internally screaming and committing murder. He cannot believe this is what his plan is.

He already got a mouthful from Recovery Girl, that death glare from him, and Tsukauchi shattering his heart with those words. Toshinori, he doesn't trust us anymore. You should've seen him. The betrayal was clear on his face, but he was telling you the truth. He just cannot catch a break. He wants to apologize, he needs to confront him but he cannot bring himself too. "And how did you come up with that pair up?"

Aizawa grins to hide the grimace that itches to come out. "Simple, they don't get along."

"And you think that's a good idea? Young Bakugou and Young Midoriya have a history, one not a good one. You've seen the way he acts around people, but it's worse with Young Midoriya."

"Yes, I know. I hate it as much as you do, and if they don't work together for this-if their relationship doesn't seem to have any way to salvage it, then we will intervene," states Nedzu.

He's seen the snippets of their interactions. Every since Midoriya became friends with Todoroki, the interactions between Bakugou and him have become rare. "Even so, we cannot let them lose sight of themselves through the next two years.

It'll be harder for them to become heroes if they do not set aside their differences."

Aizawa nods and sends a look at Yagi-a look that tells him they have to speak after this meeting.

They agree in not saying anything to the class, letting them figure it out on their own or not at all.

Shout is not going to let Toshinori get away with it any longer and Chiyo is going to help him. Yes, he knows what may be the outcome, but Chiyo is going to go along with it. She usually does with one of his schemes. Once in the infirmary, Recovery Girl is the only one there and they say nothing for a bit. "You do know why we paired you up with those two right?"

"Young Bak-"

"Yes because both of them hold a reason that involves you. Bakugou wants to beat you and become number one. Midoriya is a hero because of your inspiration. But those are not the reasons for it."

Recovery Girl glances at Eraserhead. "Are you sure? Midoriya told us not to reason with him."

"It's been over a week and nothing. I understand that Midoriya doesn't want to worsen the situation, but that's not going to happen if he waits for him to speak." He turns towards Toshinori who sat quiet during the whole ordeal since he was cut off. "Look, you cannot tell Midoriya this. Not one word. He has no idea what happened and he couldn't control a word he said to you. He doesn't know, but he can be taken over by the embodiment of Death. Some of the things he said to you, Death didn't want him saying. He was wanting to tell you the truth, that he's cursed by Death."

"To be Death's Champion," he murmurs.

"We know what happened with Tsukauchi. How could you do that to him? He trusted you, Toshinori." The disappointment in Chiyo's voice is pronounced. She shakes her head with a sigh. "We can't really be too hard with you, you basically reacted the same way we would've if he never had proved it to us."

Yagi sighs, rubbing his hands together. "I know I went over the line and I know it's going to bite me in the rear end, but I-I freaked out. I couldn't wait for sim to explain. I should have let him, but I guess you're right. This should be a good idea, but

I-I don't know how he'll react. I know I hurt him

"He hurt you too."

"Yes, but he didn't mean to," he defends Midoriya, drawing an exasperated eye roll from Shouta. He ignores the mutter that compares the two One For All wielders.

"And you didn't mean to either," counters Shouta.

"Just, be careful and watch your wording after the exam. In the infirmary-I know that he will be there, the kid won't stop getting hurt-you will speak with him."

"Okay," he murmurs. He knows that they're trying to help (the teachers just find the tension awkward and the two really need to sort out their problem) and if this is the best idea they can come up with, he doesn't blame them. Pathetic. You can't even talk to your successor without help. What type of mentor are you? What type of hero runs from their problems?"Okay, I'll try."

The final exams comes quicker than anyone anticipated. Midoriya is not too worried about the academic part of the exams. Well, two of his classmates are. Smiling at his classmates (Ashido and Kaminari), he tells them that they really need to study. "I understand that it's not fun, but really, you need to at least study for a little bit at a time.

It's really helpful, Ashido, Kaminari-let's do our best." He chuckles as he sits down behind Bakugou, ignoring his little outbursts. He listens to Rozu suggesting that she can help them with academics. The look on her face when they agree is precious. He assumes that she did not expect that from them. "Todoroki, how do you think you'll do?"

"I'II be fine with this part," he answers, sitting on the top of the desk. He ignores lida who is chastising him for sitting on it. No use, leaving them to acknowledge the small sigh of defeat. "I'm more worried about the practical part of the exam."

Uraraka comes over with a Cheshire grin on her face. Todoroki gives her a small wave as a greeting, a twitch of the corner of his lip is enough of a smile for them. "So, Midoriya what have you found out about the practical exam?"

"What? Do you think just because I have access to the teacher's lounge I know what the practical exam may be?" A few seconds pass with unimpressed looks from his friends. "Yeah, I'm not convincing myself either. Okay," he sighs, putting on his sunglasses and playing with the side of them. "In truth, I couldn't find out anything-I'm sorry about that. Aizawa-sensei would glare at me every time I had tried to find out. I actually almost got Present Mic to break and tell me so close too and then he walked in and dragged him out as if he knew what I was doing. Midnight-sensei recorded the whole thing so you should ask her for the video if Aizawa-sensei hasn't deleted it yet." Beetle had tried to sneak into the teacher's lounge and to make sure that that was what the practical exam will be, but Aizawa would always give Midoriya a look. He's not to even think about doing what he's planning on doing. He makes sure that Beetle doesn't do it, especially since he doesn't need people questioning Aizawa's sanity when he starts carrying salt with him (note: in theory, salt can ward off demons and ghosts, not Ghouls, that is silver). No, he won't let that happen at all. He should also tell him about that, but he decides to wait. Aizawa-sensei and Recovery Girl, those two will protect his secrets so he'll protect them.

Ashido, who overheard, laughs loudly and wiping her eyes. "I can see that happen! Why is that so true?" she says through laughter. She calms down enough to speak coherently giggling a little bit.

"Okay, so Aizawa-sensei kept you from finding out.

What about All Might-sensei? Surely you could've found out something through him. I mean, you're practically his favorite." Noises of agreement come from the other students, who're eavesdropping in on their conversation.

Midoriya shrugs, trying to not let his smile fall. He really does not want to speak about All Might. So, he laughs the comment off with a shake of his head. "Yeah, I'm not his favorite-nowhere near his favorite. I mean, I'm surprised myself that my adorableness did not work on him, but hey, I can't expect it to work every single time, can 1? Although, word on the street says that Tokoyami is actually his favorite."

"I am?" The surprise on his face is in between adorable and comical. "Are you sure, or are you just saying that?"

"Dude, he hugged you in front of millions of people. I'm sure that counts as favoritism, don't you think?"

A few people laugh before they quiet down when

Bakygou slams his hand onto the desk. "You're all too loud! Shut the fuck up!"

"Wow, who pissed in your cereal?" Kaminari jokes from his seat, earning a harsh glare from the blond. "Jeez, you need to calm down."

"Kacchan? Calm? Those two words don't go together. They never went together. Mad, anger, and rage are the only emotions he has. Mad is the calmest you'll ever get."

"Shut the hell up, Deku!" He growls, standing with his hands crackling with explosions.

"Or what? You'll burn me? Try that and Aizawa-sensei won't let it slide. I'm not scared of you, Ka-chan. If that's what you're thinking, yeah never gonna happen." The two hold a glare battle and for once Izuku is not backing down. lida and Todoroki glance at each other with uncertain expressions-should they defuse the situation?-while Uraraka is smiling widely like a proud sister watching her brother stand up for himself but at the same time, she's worried for Izuku. She doesn't want him to get hurt because of Bakugou's short temper.

Uraraka places a hand on both of their shoulders.

In that moment, she's glared at but Bakugou huffs and sits down with no further threats. Izuku blinks widely at her (his sunglasses slipped down the bridge of his nose) before sighing and slumping

down.

They're sitting at their usual table trying to determine what the practical part of the exam will be. It's a small conversation that is crashed by a 1-B kid known as Monoma. He hits Midoriya upside the head with his elbow. "Oops, sorry, my tray doesn't know how to maneuver around your big head." He grins. Creep, think many of them. "I hear you guys ran into the hero killer. I guess the Sports Festival wasn't enough. You just keep getting into

He's cut off by the sudden pain in his foot.

Midoriya "accidentally" stepped on him. "Sorry, my foot doesn't know that it's a bad thing to hurt people," he kindly states, placing his sunglasses on his head like a headband. "Look, you don't know what happened that day so how about instead of being petty and breathing down our necks, you work to show us up. If you have time to be harassing us with your petty grudge, then you haven't been training enough."

Kendou-a girl that Yaoyorozu interned with-comes up and looks at Monoma, itching to hit him.

"Is everything okay? He's not bothering you, right?"

"No, it's okay. He just tripped on accident, don't worry." Midoriya smiles at her brightly. "I'm Midoriya Izuku."

"Kendo Itsuka. Nice to meet you, Midoriya." She smiles happily, glancing at Yaoyorozu. "Hey, Rozu!

Oh, I couldn't help but overheard that you're trying to figure out what the practical exams may be!

Between you and me, it may be robots like the entrance exams. At least that's what an older year told me." She's surprised by the sudden muttering that she accidentally started from Midoriya. She glances at his classmates with a silent question.

"Yeah, that's normal for Deku!" Uraraka reaches over and claps her hands in front of his face, earning the expected reaction. "Don't scare normal people."

"Sorry! Sorry, Kendo. It's a habit of mine. I can't break it."

She ruffles his hair, careful with the glasses and hits Monoma for his murmuring. "Bye! Have a good day!" She starts chastising her classmate for his petty anger against the hero class.

Back in class, Kaminari and Ashido are celebrating since they can beat the robots. They were worried for nothing. Shoji tells them that they may need to dial their quirks back on humans-something that Midoriya needs to too, but he's retained some control. Bakugou just has to go and ruin the mood by being his usual self and challenge everyone. His eyes are set on Deku. That shitty nerd who gets in his way and stole his movements. Deku tunes him out, glancing to the side. " ... pissing me off with all these stunts."

"He's mad for the other day."

"Oh!"

... kill you dead!" He points at Todoroki. "You too,

Todoroki!"

What did I do? Is he still mad over the festival?

Wow, he holds a grudge. I mean, I have my reasons for holding a grudge-but over the sports festival? Really?

Midoriya watches him walk away, rubbing his wrist. "He's gone? Oh, what did he say exactly? tuned it out since I've heard his rants so often than not that they get boring and repetitive."

"Is it uneasiness or is that sheer hatred?" inquires

Tokoyami.

"Sheer hatred," answers Izuku. He waves it off. "It's fine. He just needs to get at the back of the line, too many people hate me already. It gets old fast.

Anyway, anyone free to go for ice cream and study a bit?"

Uraraka and Tsuyu are the only ones who do.

Izuku promises to go with Tsuyu and pick up her siblings and take care of them. He doesn't mind it at all, he likes children to an extent.

Practical exams. "So, Deku, what do you think?" She taps his forehead with a smile. "I mean, use that analytical mind of yours and come up with a plan that may happen here.

"Wait, but we're going against robots!"

He blinks again for a moment his eyes behind the lenses, glancing to the side where Beetle leans against the wall watching the whole ordeal. A shrug. He hums for a second before answering,

"Yeah, but I believe that may be too easy. I had a thought-never mind, it may be good not to cause any of you to worry. It's just a thought."

"No, it's not just a thought. You actually make a good point. Robots or no, we're still going to pass, we'll do our best!"

"She's right, Midori," says Yaoyorozu. She rests her chin on her interlocked hands. "I mean, it makes sense. It's best you tell us your hypothesis."

"Well, every single point of this exam, there's a purpose and our teachers know it will be difficult for us to study for it. Which is why they are keeping the information of it from us. We have to be prepared for anything, so who knows? It may not be robots at the end of it all. Just because one person says one thing, what makes it to be true? I tried to find out if the exam does deal with robots but a few students changed the story and said different things. Whatever it may deal with, Aizawa-sensei should tell us today anyway."

"You're somewhat right, Midoriya." At the voice, everyone got to their seats. "Really, you should learn how to read people better. Most of the reason why it was never announce was because of you. You know the teachers too well, you would've helped everyone to learn of our weaknesses." He ignores the nervous laughter from the anxious student and the looks thrown at Midoriya. "Now, everyone, get suited up and meet at the practice grounds.

As they change, Kaminari is picking fun at Izuku.

"So what is this about you knowing the teachers' weaknesses? Can you tell us?"

"I can," he says seeing the hope in a few of their eyes. He crushes it. "But I won't. You'll have to find that out on your own."

"Or you can take away those shitty notebooks of his," grumbles Bakugou.

"You mean the ones I have coded? Yeah, unless you know my code, you won't be able to read it.

Have fun though, that's if you steal it and that won't ever happen." He gives them a bittersweet smile. That turns deadly when he hears Mineta's words. "I'll asure you that if I'm ever to have pictures of a body-it'll be your cold, lifeless, and rotting body." He reaches over and places a light hand on his shoulder with a sweet and innocent smile crossing his face. "You don't want that, do you? have a lot of blackmail on you, you know."

Mineta sweats profusely before rushing out of the room. A few of their classmates-Bakugou especially-follow him out in a calmer manner, heading to meet up with Aizawa-sensei. lida and Todoroki stay. lida staring at his friend with shock.

"It is unbecoming of a hero to threaten and blackmail, Midoriya!"

"I know lida, but it's fun to see the terror on his face. I'm not kidding on the blackmail, either. I know a lot about him, it's not too hard to find out things about him-of course, I'll never let any of that out, I'm not that terrible of a person. But hey, he should learn to stop being a pervert, otherwise it will bite him in the butt one day. Ugh, knowing so much on people sucks-I get headaches and I'm embarrassed for them." He sighs, rubbing his nape. "I was hoping that Aizawa-sensei would've dealt with the whole thing, but apparently all he does is barely chastise him. Oh well, one day he'll mess up and I'm hoping he gets what's coming to him. Come on, the teachers must be waiting.

Tokoyami keeps glancing at the small greenette who wears the mask of a human skull. The smile on it is creepy and extremely realistic, almost as if half of Midoriya's skin has been ripped off to show the bone smile underneath. Those claws make him feel edgy, almost as if his instincts are telling him to run or else he'll rip his flesh open with them. He ignores the feeling and listens to the teachers. The dark shadow quirk user glances over to his partner. Asui Tsuyu. He's spoken to her rarely, but even then it isn't enough to know much about her.

Tokoyami sends a smile at the girl who gives a small wave to both him and Dark Shadow. "So, what'll be the plan, Fumi? You and the girl seem to have nothing in common."

"Shush, Dark Shadow," he whispers. "We'll speak about it with her. You need to have patience."

"Hey, Tokoyami, Tsu!" calls Midoriya with a wave and a wide smile. He walks over, the mask hitting his chest with every step he takes. "Good luck with Ectoplasm! He's a tough opponent, but you two will make a great team."

"You already know how we can use out quirks against him, haven't you?" Asui states, her expression showing that she knows.

"Hmm? Yes, but there are many different ways for to use them. Believe it or not, you two can be quite compatible. Anyway good luck."

"I think we should be saying that to you, Midori.

Are you sure you will be okay with Bakugou?"

A reassuring smile crosses his lips. "I'm not sure but hey, I should've seen this coming. Thanks for the concern, Toko. I'll see you two soon. Oh, and I have faith in you two. You're certainly going to pass."

TokItami watches him leave glancing over at Dark

Shadow who is waving at Midoriya. "Don't you think the darkness will like to have him, Fumi?"

"Not really. No. He's more of a child of the light."