Hagakure Toru, Class 1-A Seat #16Toru arrived at the address that Yaoyorozu provided in the group chat.
With her was most of their study group, since they had met at the train station, and walked through one of the nicest neighborhoods Toru had ever seen.
"Is this really the place? I knew she was rich, but I didn't know she was this rich." Kaminari sputtered out.
"No way. This place looks like it could be an embassy." Sero muttered.
Ojiro was double-checking the map on his phone next to Toru. "Nope, this is the right address."
"Indeed, Uraraka reports that she is already inside the compound." Tokoyami said.
It really did look like it could be a compound, or an embassy. A massive gate was in front of them. Not the kind of gate you see in front of a normal house, big enough for a car to get through. No, this was at least twice as wide, as if it was designed to let traffic both in and out at the same time.
Framing it were two brick pillars, around the sturdy metal fence over a waist high brick wall. It wasn't the kind of fence that granted privacy, because the Yaoyorozo property, or would it be an estate? It had trees and enough space that the fence itself didn't have to hide anything.
Toru's whole apartment could fit right in the front yard. And not just her apartment. The whole building. This wasn't some shrine in the country either.
Jiro rang the doorbell, and the gate immediately started to open inward.
The speaker on the doorbell came alive, "Come on in, everyone, I've been waiting for you!" It was Yaoyorozo's voice, and she sounded as bubbly as ever.
Beyond the gate was an older looking man, with gray and white hair, in formal wear. He stood straight. "Miss Ashido, Miss Hagakure, Miss Jiro, Mister Ojiro, Mister Sero, Mister Tokoyami, and Mister Kaminari, I presume?"
He shot them a smile as he had hit his mark. "Welcome. My name is Uchimura, and I am the Yaoyorozu household butler. Miss Momo is expecting you, so please, do come in."
The group was soon awkwardly following Uchimura.
"A real butler. They do exist!" Ashido said as quietly as she could, which wasn't particularly quiet.
"If they have a butler… Do you think they have maids too?" Kaminari asked in a hushed tone.
Toru immediately swore to herself that Mineta could never learn of this place.
"Guys! Just stop." Jiro scolded.
Uchimura, who had been silent to that point, just cheerfully replied, "Yes, the household does employ maids as well." Toru covertly turned her head to look and noticed his wry grin.
They continued to walk through the small forest that was between the fence and Yaoyorozu's home. Home was a bit of an understatement however.
As they stepped inside, a group of maids said "Welcome," in unison, lined up in the front hall to greet them.
Mineta must never learn of this place. Ever.
A woman, whom Toru immediately recognized, rushed out, "Hello there! I am Mrs. Yaoyorozu. How wonderful to meet more of my little Momo's friends."
There were a few awkward greetings exchanged from Toru's side, including from herself.
"And seven more of you. How auspicious."
Toru could stare and watch her gaze pause on Jiro for a moment, and then Tokoyami.
"Oh, but I shouldn't hold you up, Momo has the auditorium prepared, and she's waiting with the others. Let's get you over there."
"Shall I?" Uchimura asked.
"No, please allow me."
Toru and the others were ushered to follow Yaoyorozu's mother through the corridors, as they walked on the marble floors, past decoration like vases, and paintings that Toru thought she would recognize if she paid more attention in class.
"Is that a signed Murata print?" Kaminari whispered.
"This place is like a famous museum." Sero whispered back.
Ashido was louder, "Yaomomo really lives here? She really is a princess then."
This caused Yaoyorozu's mother to turn around to her guests, "Yaomomo?"
"Um, Yaomomo is just what we call Yaomomo. I mean, Momo. Your daughter, I mean." Jiro stammered.
"Y-yeah." Toru added.
"Oh! A nickname then! Yaomomo, like some lovely, exotic bird. What nickname would you give me then?"
Ashido immediately blurted out her answer, "Well, since you're Yaomomo's mom, how about Yaomama!"
"Wonderful. Then, by all means, you can call me Yaomama."
Ashido beamed, "Sure thing, Yaomama!"
Jiro stammered out her affirmative response, and Toru let out a small cough.
They kept walking, and Toru tuned out the quiet argument that formed between Jiro and Kaminari as she looked around.
She wasn't looking to remember her way around. Toru was already certain she'd get lost trying to find a bathroom, let alone trying to find an exit. But one of the long-time perks of her quirk was that she could look around without it being too rude, so she took in the sights, until they arrived at their destination.
It really did live up to its name as the 'auditorium'. In one corner of the space was a long table furnished with chairs. The table looked like it could seat their entire class twice over, and it looked like it was made out of a single piece of solid wood. There were only enough chairs for their study group however.
"Momo, the rest of your friends are here," Yaomama announced.
"I'm so sorry I couldn't greet you all myself. I was busy getting the rest of the materials prepared." Yaomomo said. She had a stack of papers and a whiteboard next to her, like a teacher would. The pair of glasses she was wearing helped her look the part.
Next to her was Uraraka and the other girl, Hatsume, who was from the support course.
Hatsume, who Uraraka had invited, was wearing a black tank top, a folded down jumpsuit, goggles, and gloves. She was busy with some contraption and a screwdriver.
Uraraka also had a stack of papers like Yaomomo, but what really caught Toru's eye was that she was wearing a matching black tank top that looked exactly like Hatsume's.
"I'll leave you kids to it then. I'll send out some tea later. Be a good teacher now, Momo." Yaomama said.
"Yes, mother."
"Bye Yaomama!" chimed in most of the group, including Toru, as Yaoyorozu's mother left.
As the study group was left alone, Toru felt a well of enthusiasm build up.
"Before we begin, I just want to introduce Hatsume from the Support Course to everyone. I know Uraraka introduced her in the group chat, but now that we're in person, I figured proper introductions are in order." Yaomomo said.
Hatsume didn't seem to even look up from what she was doing until Uraraka nudged her.
Suddenly focusing on the students seated around her, she started speaking, "Oh! Right. I am Hatsume Mei, my favorite food is chocolate, and I forgot all your names." She looked at Uraraka, as if for some reminder, "Oh and I will make a special baby for everyone who passes the exams, as an incentive to uh make sure to uh, study?"
"Isn't she the girl that beat you in the Sports Festival Sero?" Ashido whispered loudly.
"Since we have a lot to cover today, I'll introduce everyone if that's okay." Uraraka said, before gesturing to everyone, "Mei, aside from Yaoyorozu who you met, we have Jiro, Kaminari, Sero, Ashido, Tokoyami, Hagakure, and Ojiro."
"Thank you Uraraka." Yaoyorozu said, as she clicked on the whiteboard.
Hatsume's attention seemed to return to what she was working on from before as she plucked it and her screwdriver out of the air. But everyone else was looking at Yaoyorozu's presentation.
"Without any further delay, let's begin the tutoring." Yaomomo said in a sing-song voice.
"Woo!" shouted Ashido.
"Take it away Professorozu!" Sero said.
"To observe attentively is to remember distinctly." Tokoyami added.
—
Toru had learned so much in a short amount of time. Yaoyorozu had crafted an engaging and educational lesson that targeted everyone's weaknesses and immediately built them up. Toru felt like she learned more in a couple hours than Aizawa had taught her in an entire month.
Of course, not everything was perfect. "My head. It is going to explode."
Kaminari was so far behind that catching him up seemed like an impossible task, even for the Mighty Yaoyorozu Princess, in her own castle. He hadn't been using his quirk, but much more pushing and Toru was half expecting him to put both thumbs up and start chanting his trademark catchphrase of "Yay. Yay."
"Sounds like it is time for a break. Then phase two." Uraraka said.
Yaoyorozu nodded, and softly called out, "Uchimura?"
"Phase two?" Toru asked as the Yaoyorozu family butler entered the room.
"May we have some tea? And some coffee?"
"Certainly, miss."
Toru wondered if he was outside the door the whole time, or if he had some butler related quirk.
Moments later, several maids wheeled in a cart with tea, cookies, and even coffee. Moments later everyone was served, with black tea in front of everyone except Uraraka and Hatsume, who had coffee.
"Enjoy." Yaomomo said, as everyone reached for their cups.
"Tea poured for me by a real life maid." Kaminari mused, as he stared into his cup.
Toru mused if she would have to silence him to prevent word from reaching Mineta, before she snickered at the thought.
"Oh, this is so relaxing." Ashido said as she leaned back in her seat after taking a sip.
Toru followed her lead. It really was. She practically melted into her own chair.
As the rest of the class soaked into their break, and Yaomomo talked about the tea being Harrods or whatever, Toru's attention focused on the cookies on the table.
After so much studying, they looked good.
The study group each took one, and bit into them.
They were rich, but bitter. That evolved into an almost savory sweetness, before it tasted almost acrid and salty. There was a spicy bite, followed by a fishy aftertaste.
These weren't cookies, these weren't even fit for human consumption.
Uraraka was the first to speak. "Well, at least this is better than k-brot. Yaoyorozu?"
Yaomomo's face was already contorted in shock as she had bitten into a cookie of her own, her hand reflexively covering her mouth. "Pardon me. I will be right back." Yaoyorozu said.
As she left earshot, the rest of the study group burst out.
"Blech. I can still taste it." Ashido said, gulping down tea desperately to get the taste out of her mouth.
"I wonder if these can be weaponized for one of my babies." Hatsume said cheerfully.
"You'd think that would be illegal." Kaminari said, "Those were bioweapons."
"This is not food. This is a dark omen." Tokoyami said.
Ojiro, as clever and optimistic as ever, "At least we're awake now. One bite was all it took."
He wasn't wrong. Toru was definitely more alert now, and it wasn't just the tea.
"It may take Yaoyorozu a moment to get back, so it might be a good time to take a restroom break before we move on to the next phase." Uraraka said.
"Phase two!" Hatsume cheered.
"What do you mean phase two? Like the next stage of the boss?" Sero asked.
"Nothing so drastic. It just helps to mix things up a bit when training, to keep the squad attentive." Uraraka said.
"I guess this is a study squad." Jiro said, before she drained her tea. "But I think you're right, I'm going to the bathroom. Toru joined after Ashdio did, after Uraraka suggested that they should ask one of the maids outside to escort them.
After all, she wanted to be prepared, and the sinking feeling in her stomach every time she heard phase two hadn't left her unfazed.
—
Uraraka Ochaco, Class 1-A Seat #5A few minutes after the other girls went to the bathroom, the boys had gone, but they returned far sooner. And Yaoyorozu was still missing.
Maybe whatever horrors had happened in their kitchen to produce the weaponized cookies was taking longer to resolve than I'd thought, but at least Yaoyorozu was taking it seriously. They might have been better than k-brot, but that bar rested in hell with Being X.
We even had time to have another maid take myself and Mei to the bathroom and come back, and Yaoyorozu wasn't back yet. I would have sent her a message, but I didn't want to be a rude guest in her home.
As I walked back into the room with Mei, I heard the boys talking.
Sero was tying to get Kaminari back on track, "Pull it together man!" You want to attend the summer camp right?"
"Yeah." Ojiro said, "Remember what Aizawa said? Failing these tests means summer school hell."
"Or he's lying." I said, "Consider that those that would be behind the most would need the training camp the most."
"So I don't have to keep studying?" Kaminari said, hopefully.
"Kaminari, do you think Aizawa cares if you study classical Japanese literature?"
"No?" Kaminari said, starting to sound slightly defensive.
I smiled, "No, he doesn't. Aizawa isn't the one who sets most of the curriculum, he's just the one in charge of our hero studies. Do you know who sets the part of the curriculum?"
"The Principal?" He guessed.
"No, Kaminari."
Kaminari looked to Ojiro who shrugged, then Tokoyami who just gave him an unimpressed look.
"The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Do you think U.A. High will let someone who can't even learn a basic high school curriculum stay in the Hero Course?"
Kaminari sighed and slumped over. "I get your point."
"Good." I said with a smile, "Now that we have an understanding, and since we seem to have an extended break, why don't we cover something else that you need to go over."
"Something else?" Kaminari asked, without picking up his head.
"I study with Mei every week." Mei perked up upon hearing her name, as I continued, "Do you really think I just dragged her out here just to do a last minute recap? Even if Yaoyorozu is a really good tutor."
"Oh, we finally get to get to the fun part? Where I make some babies?" Mei asked.
"B-babies?" Kaminari stuttered, as Mei invaded his personal bubble.
"She means support gear." Tokoyami said. We had talked about Mei a bit over our Hawks internship, and he knew what she meant as a result.
"If I remember correctly, you're the one with the zappy quirk right?" Mei asked.
"Yeah, my quirk is Electrification. I can store and discharge electricity." Kaminari said as Hatsume finished checking his arms.
I pulled out my phone, and flipped to a picture of his costume. Mei took a look at it for a moment, as I started to explain my thoughts.
"The earpiece in his costume is quite fascinating, given that he can amplify it with his quirk." I pointed out.
"I remember you talked about that. I wouldn't mind taking a look at the electronics in that." Mei said, as I put my phone away.
"Yeah, having it upgraded so we don't get jammed again would be nice, but I'd be concerned with him just causing more EMI if it can't be tuned. The last thing I want is for him to overload the front end of my helmet's communication suite, or worse."
She hummed. "I told you that stuff is all EM shielded. He could hit you with a full blast and as long as you're grounded your suit will be fine. My babies are more resilient than that."
"Finding grounding in the air is quite hard, and regardless I'd be deaf to any incoming communication while that's happening. I'd rather not risk it. But regardless will the sharpshooter work?"
"I'll need him to come in so I can fine tune it so it can pass Power Loader's safety check, but it would definitely work no problem."
If I was the emotional sort I would have wiped a tear from my eye. When I had first met Hatsume, getting her to talk about safety was like pulling teeth. She was never as deranged as someone like Schugel, or I would have ran away screaming, no matter how alluring Hatsume's business sense was… but she had a tendency to invent something first, and iterate on it later.
"Is something wrong? Did Aizawa do something stupid again?" Mei asked, her face only several centimeters from mine, her yellow eyes staring intently at me.
"No, nothing's wrong." I said.
Did she just roll her eyes at me?
"Okay, so who's next?" Mei said, her eyes snapping from me to her next potential targets.
"Oh, me! Me next." Sero said.
"He is?" Mei asked.
"Tape quirk." I said.
"I thought you said the sticky pervert wasn't here." Mei said, as she looked at Sero's arms.
Putting my face in my hands, I just said "Mei."
"I'm not Mineta." Sero said, looking like he was slightly embarrassed by the situation.
"Mineta?" Hatsume whispered finally.
"Mineta's the one with the sticky balls. This is Sero, the one with the tape quirk." I whispered back.
Apparently not quiet enough though, because Kaminari struggled to suppress a snicker.
"A grappling hook?" Mei said. It was a good suggestion, but I hadn't expected her to be stumped. Was it Sero's plain face?
"That's actually not a bad idea." Sero said, impressed.
I pulled out my phone again and showed her his costume.
"I would note two things. When we got back from the internships he was swinging around with his tape. He's quite agile." I said, "But…"
"Never any knee support." Mei said, sounding disappointed.
"What?" Sero asked.
Tokoyami, who had also previously heard my thoughts on the matter, joined in, "What happens when you try to land after swinging around?"
"I'm pretty good at making soft landings." Sero said, defensively.
I sighed. "But not perfect. And over the course of your hero career you're going to have to occasionally make hard landings. The G-forces on your body from swinging around can be intense, and you don't exactly have an anti-gravity quirk. That damage adds up."
Mei smiled, and went into her pitch, "What you need is the Hatsume's Knees Modular Protector, version five."
"Version five?" Ojiro asked.
"Ochaco insisted." Mei shrugged.
"Versions one through three had range issues." I said.
"What about version four?" Kaminari asked.
Mei and I both immediately replied, "We don't talk about version four."
"Anyways, moving on," I said, "There is also the issue of your helmet."
"But I like my helmet." Sero said.
"It's a good design, and the branding is on point, but you have no gas mask in there at all. Do you have any idea how many gas related quirks you can avoid with a compact piece of equipment?"
Sero looked conflicted, "I'll think about it."
"Don't worry, I'll file the paperwork, so long as you update it to have both the knee protection and the gas mask."
"Even the grappling hook?" Sero asked, sounding hopeful.
"Only if Mei designs it too." I said.
Mei looked at the remaining two boys.
"Oh, this is girthy." she said, as she grabbed Ojiro's tail.
"Uh, I don't really need—" Ojiro started but he noticed Mei's expression as she dropped his tail unceremoniously.
"Every hero needs babies." she said, firmly.
"Have you ever trained with a bo staff?" I asked.
"Yeah but when not in use they're a bit bulky, not to mention the weight."
"This might sound off coming from me, but there isn't anything I can do about the weight, but Mei could at least get you something collapsable." I said.
"Isn't a collapsing staff a party trick? I've seen them online, they break if you hit anything." Kaminari said.
"Then it isn't one of my babies." Mei said.
Honestly you'd think that people would realize that materials science wasn't stuck in the twentieth century by now. "There is a difference between cheap imported toys and proper support gear. For example, my shovel weighs more than it would if it was made of gold, and it's tougher than most steel alloys."
"Yeesh." Kaminari said.
"And soon it is going to be even heavier." Mei said proudly.
"How did you even accomplish that by the way?" I asked, "I thought you said you were taking a break from megadense materials."
"I um… we had a competition in class, and I had the most experience with making things heavy." Mei said. She kept looking away from me. "They were just bracelets for arms and legs… I didn't think it was important."
The only person I knew who would willingly put extra weight in their costume was myself. Because for anyone else the weight, no, the mass would slow them down. It was a massive liability. Or a handicap.
Wait a minute…
My thoughts were interrupted by someone knocking on the door before stepping inside.
Yaoyorozu, Ashido, Jiro, and Toru were back.
"Sorry, we got lost." Ashido said.
Jiro was awkwardly smiling. "It's a bit of a story."
Toru waved like people could see more than her sleeves move. I don't know why she bothered except to practice gestures for when she just had a pair of gloves on.
"Yeah, it's a long story!" Toru said cheerfully.
Yaoyorozu came by my side, "Sorry about that. My mother has… ideas about cooking healthy food, and she won't leave it to the chef."
She sounded particularly apologetic.
"I understand, even if my mother couldn't cook, I'd still eat anything she made for me." I said.
Well, except maybe k-brot. But my mom actually loves me so that wasn't possible.
"Oh no, I would have been dead before I turned ten." Yaoyorozu whispered, "Anyway, are we still doing your plan for the next part of the studying?"
I nodded, "Yeah, I just found something out that means we are definitely going to need some last minute physical practice too."
"What's that?" Yaoyorozu asked.
"We're not fighting robots in the exam. We're fighting the teachers."
Uraraka Ochaco, Class 1-A Seat #5
"We're not fighting robots in the exam. We're fighting the teachers."
Ashido nearly spat out her tea.
"Oh, I'm screwed." Kaminari said, pulling on his hair in panic.
"No you're not." I said. "We stick to the plan."
"You're right, I'm just doomed." Kaminari repeated.
He was going to be tricky to deal with.
"Plan?" Sero asked.
I stood up, and tucked my hands behind my back, as I walked slowly around the table.
"Yes, plan. While we study we will work on your physical skills at the same time. That's what we were going to do next before our extended break anyway."
"Like what, we run and do flash cards?" Kaminari asked.
"Oh, something like that." I said, before hushing Ashido who looked excited. "Even with Yaoyorozu's exceptional tutoring, you were starting to feel overwhelmed before we took a break, right Kaminari?"
"Yeah, I was feeling dumber than when I overload myself." Kaminari said.
Jiro snorted as she quickly covered her mouth.
Kaminari shot a "Hey!" at her.
"Uraraka proposed some light aerobic and quirk based exercises paired with supplemental studying in the field to make sure we wouldn't lose focus. I'll admit I didn't think of it myself, but the methodology is sound." Yaoyorozu said, getting attention back to our lesson. "Especially if we're to face the teachers."
She didn't sound so sure about the last part.
Continuing, I laid out my reasoning, "I wanted us to work on some light training for the practical portion of the exam. Aizawa has been doing a terrible job of teaching everyone how to use the tools at their disposal, and All Might isn't at every hero class taught. Our class is woefully behind what I'd call basic competence. While I was content to let that slide, recent events have made it clear to me that I'd be failing everyone in our class if I left it in the hands of our teachers."
Granted, we didn't have the whole class here, but I had to start somewhere.
Ashido seemed excited, but confused, "How are we going to train here, though? I thought we couldn't use our quirks—"
Floating in place so she had to look up at me, I interrupted her, "Now, you shouldn't use your quirk indoors, but we are on private property. And Yaoyorozu has graciously gotten us permission to train in an outdoor area."
I let myself sink to the floor.
Yaoyorozu added, "Uchimura offered an area where we are replanting the garden. It should be suitable for what Uraraka suggested."
Replanting was an understatement, but counting my last life I had been to bigger estates than Yaoyorozu's, and I understood the work that went into maintaining them, so it wasn't spectacularly unique. Instead it would let me conduct a training season that would be impactful enough to teach something in spite of our limited time frame.
"And then some. But actually, would you mind if I modified the activities a tiny bit?" I asked.
My plan originally was just to use moderate activity to help improve the effects of studying, with some quirk exercises, and a few questions during the activity to help with retention.
But now that I had information about Aizawa's next move?
"If you think it will help us on the exam." Yaoyorozu said.
"Great. Mei, do you think you could modify that drone to provide some extra encouragement?"
"In a jiffy! But wait, what about the zappy boy?"
—
Kaminari Denki, Class 1-A Seat #7Denki's brain hurt. And his legs. And his lungs. And his—Ow!
His back exploded red as yet another paintball hit him, splattering across the training clothes that Yaomomo had made for him.
He started running faster despite his exhaustion, through the muck and mud.
Denki couldn't fall down again, because a good portion of the mud was made by Ashido's acid. It wouldn't kill him but it would sting worse than the paintballs did.
Maybe Mineta was right. If Yaomomo couldn't help him he could cheat on the finals. It certainly was better than this. But then he realized he couldn't cheat when fighting a teacher.
Before the depressive abyss could swallow him whole, the voice of the devil reached his ears, "I asked you a question, Kaminari. Either answer it or repel the drone."
Repelling the drone was too risky. Denki cursed his poor quirk control at range. He couldn't afford to short circuit himself. Not with what was at stake.
And if he gave an answer that was wrong, the drone would just shoot him with a paintball anyway.
Something in his head felt a jolt though. He had to at least go with his best guess.
"The Edo Period?"
Even though he knew it was futile, he tried to dodge the incoming paintballs, but the fiendish drone had better aim than Ashido did. Wait! He wasn't hit with any paintballs.
He had dodged its infernal wrath!
Denki stopped running for a moment to check how well he had done, before Uraraka yanked him off his feet. She didn't even miss a step, and she had lapped everyone who was still running already, never taking a break.
"You look surprised to have gotten the correct answer Kaminari. Do you want to answer another question?"
"N-no!"
"Then keep running." Uraraka said, as she planted him back on his feet like he was a mannequin. He still felt lighter than normal. Was she being nice to him?
"Alright, last question before we take a break!" Uraraka said as she increased her pace to get past Ashido, then to a student she was about to lap, "Hagakure!"
Denki heard the invisible girl let out a startled shriek. He was just glad that Ashido wouldn't splash him with more acid when she would inevitably try to avoid answering a question. Even if it was deliberately weak, it still stung.
Uraraka spat out a string of sounds in what must have been English.
"Could you repeat that slower?" Hagakure gasped, almost out of breath, as the drone menaced closer to her.
"What would you tell an English speaking tourist to let them know they are safe during a disaster?"
Denki only caught part of that. Maybe if she had said it more like Present Mic he might have understood more than half of it, but Uraraka always sounded like she was reciting lines out of a Hollywood movie when she spoke in English. It was hard to understand.
Hagakure didn't have a way to fend off the drone like Denki and Ashido did. Actually both of them hadn't fended off the drone once. It was more accurate to say that Hagakure didn't have a way to fend off the drone like Yaomomo, Jiro, Sero, Ojiro, or even Tokoyami did.
"Um… No please panic! You danger longer no safe."
The drone buzzed forward and unceremoniously zapped Hagakure. She kept running to avoid another jolt.
"Maybe Aizawa isn't the only teacher I need to worry about." Uraraka said with a sigh. It was the first time during the whole exercise that her breathing was anything but normal.
"I thought you wanted to know what to say to someone that only speaks English?" Hagakure protested, as she got to the finish line. She nearly fell over into the mud, but Tokoyami had Dark Shadow catch her.
"And you told the tourist to panic, and that they are in danger. Does anyone have a better answer?" Uraraka asked.
Sero yelled back, "It's fine now. Why? Because I am here!"
"Quoting All Might for every English question won't help you pass the test." Uraraka called back as she jumped, and caught the drone out of the air.
Sero laughed, "But am I wrong?"
Uraraka didn't dignify him with a response, but instead tossed Hatsume the drone. Hatsume was on the sidelines and was the only kid there that hadn't run with everyone else.
When Hagakure had complained, Uraraka just reminded him that "Mei is training for her support course final." When Denki had complained, she added that Hatsume had a better one hundred meter run time than he did. When Jiro asked how Uraraka knew Hatsume's times she sic'd the drone on her first.
"We'll cover everyone's deficiencies later. Everyone who just finished your last lap, don't forget to do a cool down lap." Uraraka announced to some groans, before she walked over to Yaomomo, Ojiro, and Tokoyami to talk.
Denki walked to catch up with the others.
Hagakure was complaining about not being able to use her quirk, but considering that her clothes were covered in acidic mud from falling over twice, Denki was pretty sure Uraraka had the right of it. Forcing everyone to wear goggles for safety was also a good move, especially since the ones Yaomomo made didn't fog up.
The training was tough, and he shuttered to think about what further plans Uraraka had, but something else was bothering him.
"Ashido, why were you pacing with the rest of us? Surely you could have at least given Ojiro a run for his money."
"Yeah. I couldn't use my tape to swing around, but what was your excuse?" Sero asked.
She gave a cheerful laugh, "I wanted to pace myself so I could think. I almost dodged a few of those zaps."
"That's not fair, that drone was dead on with the paintballs." Denki protested.
"Not our fault you would have just absorbed the shocks." Jiro said.
"Says the one who managed to fend off the drone instead of answering a quadratic question. I thought you were supposed to be working on those! And Uraraka called the question 'child's play' before she made me try to answer it!" Hagakure said.
"I panicked!" Jiro said.
"So did I! I thought I was going to have to try and answer it next after she asked Kaminari." Ashido said, "I'm just glad you managed to figure it out."
"Somehow the lessons Professorozu gave us earlier just clicked. Who knows, maybe I'll get a better score than you on the exam Jiro." Denki bragged.
"Unlikely." Jiro said, "By the way, what's the plan after this? Round two of dodge the demon drone?"
Ashido shuddered, "I hope not. I have the feeling she was asking us easy questions."
"Easy? She tripped me up when she asked that trick question about Princess Mononoke. That movie predates the glowing baby!" Sero said.
Hagakure spoke in a whisper, like saying it out loud might change what was going to happen "Earlier, I overheard her talking about having us head inside for the rest of the day after this, since she wants to brainstorm strategies against the teachers after Yaomomo does one last tutoring session."
Denki was still surprised this hadn't ended up with him out for an hour in a brain fog. It's what he thought would happen when they started to head outside. When Uraraka had told him in no uncertain terms that she would make him personally regret it if that happened, he almost cried.
"In that case, we'll probably get to clean up soon." Jiro said, excited.
But now he survived it. Even though his legs still burned, and his back was still sore from the paintballs, he felt good. Better even.
"That sounds good, but man, now that we're not being attacked by the demon drone, I already feel much better." Denki said, "Just another chill study season, then we plot against the teachers! Let's do this!"
—
Uraraka Ochaco, Class 1-A Seat #5They weren't soldiers, not even cadets really. So I couldn't push them as hard as I would have liked. Honestly I wasn't even sure the changes I had made to what was supposed to just be some jogging and quirk usage exercises was going to make any difference to their ability to pass any tests.
But a measure of good leadership was inspiring confidence.
That wasn't something Aizawa did, so it would be easy to step into the vacuum that had been left. Still, once they hit the summer training camp, maybe Aizawa would actually step up. Right after Being X came groveling with an apology for all the bullshit he pulled.
I reached for the cup of tea in front of me, having acquiesced to the rest of the group suggesting I try it, at least for the cake we were eating after our final study session for the day. It was light and pleasant, and paired nicely with the rich chocolate cake. It was far better than the cookies that we had started the day with.
Everyone had quieted down significantly, even with the sweet snack. Mei was silently working on her drone after she had finished, and Tokoyami was having a discussion with Dark Shadow.
"I'll have Yaoyorozu message everyone with study sheets for the days between tests. Make sure you go over those between classes too if you're able to. Last minute review will help jog your memory over everything we went over today." I started.
Yaoyorozu complimented everyone's perseverance and diligence as she told everyone how proud she was of the progress we made today. I could feel the warmth in the air myself even.
Honestly, after everyone did a mock quiz Yaoyorozu made, I was confident that everyone here would at least pass their finals by the skin of their teeth if not better.
But there was still the matter of the practical exam.
And Yaoyorozu was wrapping up her inspiring speech, "Since we're going to be up against the teachers instead of robots, we're going to think of strategies to beat them."
"How will we beat them when we don't even know what the test is going to be like?" Sero asked.
"Think about it logically." I said, "Our class has twenty students. For the staff they can't pull every Pro Hero teacher, because Class 1-B, and the second and third year classes have classes and tests too. Additionally, they'll want teachers who are familiar with our class."
"So what does that mean exactly?" Ashido asked.
"They have a limited number of teachers who can test us." Tokoyami said, "Primarily teachers we've interacted with before."
"Exactly right." I said, "If I had to guess, we'll probably be put in teams of two or… maybe four. Probably two, since that many teachers being pulled at once likely required permission from the principal."
Four would make things incredibly wild, and would make it much harder to test individual skills.
"Oh, pick me! I'd be a good teammate!" Ashido said
"I would imagine Aizawa is going to assign us partners." Yaoyorozu said. Ashido gave a shrug. She continued, "I'd imagine we'll be paired with students that are physically or academically similar in some way, or it would be hard for the test to be fair."
Actually that did raise an important point. Unlike the written tests we'd be taking on subjects the government mandated, U.A. High essentially had full control over the hero courses. They could be unfair on purpose. My only hope was that because the school administration was likely to be involved, Aizawa couldn't intentionally fail pairs of students or even the whole class pointlessly.
"So they'd probably pair the worst two students on the same team, and so on until they pair the best two students." Ojiro said.
Ashido and Kaminari flinched at the implication.
"We're extrapolating pretty heavily here, so we don't know for sure. But for the sake of the argument, let's assume Aizawa does pair you two on the same team. It will be a good way to start thinking of strategies to beat the teachers. We can work on a few alternatives once we get the general idea down." I said,
"Says the one who is going to be paired with Yaomomo!" Ashido pouted.
"I doubt I'd be so lucky." I said, "But let's focus. Going by teachers our class has interacted with a lot, that's primarily Aizawa, Present Mic, Ectoplasm, Cementoss, Thirteen, Midnight, and All Might."
"I don't think we can beat All Might." Kaminari said.
"He'll have a handicap." I pointed out, "Hundreds of kilograms, like a real Harrison Bergeron."
"Harrison who?" Ashido asked.
"Oh, like that old film actor who played Hand Solo?" Kaminari said.
"No, I think that's the guy who killed his wife and framed him for it." Hagakure said.
"Nevermind that," I said, "The point is, he would be slower. And it isn't like he'd go all out on students."
Was Aizawa going to force me to fight All Might? If so, what partner would he have me with? Maybe Midoriya since there was no chance he would ever lay a finger on his idol, even if I threatened him at gunpoint.
Although if we had Midoriya with us right now, we could see if his notes about the class's quirks would yield any strategies. If I had known ahead of time we'd be doing this I might have tried to invite him.
"I'd imagine Aizawa will pair us up against someone who would target your weaknesses but not someone you couldn't beat." Yaoyorozu said, but she sounded worried. "Oh, but we don't even know the full details of the test. It will probably have a time limit, but that could be anything from beating an opponent, surviving for the full timeframe, performing a mock rescue, or even just escaping."
Real way to inspire confidence, Yaoyorozu. Plus failure to plan is planning to fail.
"Jumping at shadows in the dark." Tokoyami said.
At least Tokoyami gets it.
"What about support gear?" Sero asked.
Mei didn't even look up from what she was doing, "Nah, I asked. No costume adjustments allowed during finals. The last updates were done two weeks ago."
"What we can do is work on general strategies for now, and adjust as the situation calls for." I said, "Even if it's for an opponent you don't think you can fight, having general strategies to win in a variety of situations is a good idea. So let's start there. Afterwards we'll go over each teacher's known weaknesses, and what we can do to exploit them."