Fire rained.
Bullets drowned the battlefield.
Toru Hagakure pressed the button, and a soldier's head exploded.
Despite the gore, her face didn't carry any remorse or nausea, but a blank tightness of competition.
"Take it easy…" Luke said from the side, plunging his dagger into another soldier's gut. "It's just a game…"
Luke and Toru were seated on the foot of a sofa, which they had dragged close to the TV.
Both were holding their controllers while playing the new MMORPG released only a few days back—CONQUEST!
Playing video games on the TV available in the common room wasn't allowed.
In fact, buying a game, bringing it into the dorm, and plugging it in went straight against The Heights Alliance's Rule Book.
They still managed to smuggle several video games over the last few weeks, to Tenya and Momo's chagrin.
Because if they hadn't, they would have lost their minds.
The same was the case for all students.
The Ultimate Move Training had not only intensified since the end of the Sports Festival, but it had drained them dry, leaving them no time for anything else.
"Ignore Luke, Hagakure!" Uraraka shouted, seated on the sofa behind Toru. "He's just saying that because he's losing…"
Midoriya, seated behind Luke, smiled wryly.
He noticed the serious expression on Uraraka's face and zoned out.
Luke slammed the controller onto Midoriya's head without looking back. "Focus!" he hissed. "It's more important than even the Sports Festival."
Meanwhile, seated behind the four gamers, on the remaining sofa, were Momo, Jiro, Tsuyu, Mina, Kaminari, Mineta, and Hanta Sero.
Momo sipped tea as the others listened to Jiro playing the guitar.
Mina's face was lost in her mobile as she scrolled through the dance videos, Tsuyu peeking at her feed from the side.
Kaminari, Mineta, and Sero were too absorbed in watching the video game on the TV.
"…Kill him!" The words suddenly bounced off the common room's walls. "I am gonna kill him!"
Heads turned.
Even Luke and Toru scooted up and looked over the sofa, pausing the game.
Coming from outside was Kirishima, fuming red with anger as he slammed his hardened fist into his hardened palm.
Next to him were Bakugo, Shoji, and Sato, all looking equally pissed.
And that was saying something, given that seeing Shoji of all people so angry was a rare occurrence.
Hearing the sounds of rock hitting rock, Ojiro and Aoyama also walked into the common room from outside, finishing their after-dinner training early.
"Yo…" Kaminari asked, waving at Kirishima. "Who pissed you off?"
"It was that little %$$%^…"
Tenya came bolting downstairs, doing his utter best not to look at the paused video game on the TV. "Please do not curse, Kirishima!" he shouted, nudging his glasses higher. "The dorms are still a part of the school. As such, we must maintain the decorum expected of senior students of UA's Hero Course."
"Amen!" Luke shouted.
All eyes fell upon him as he innocently nodded toward Tenya in full agreement.
The high tension bubbling within the common room met a sudden, funny death, with Toru, Mina, Sero, and Mineta laughing out loud.
Tokoyami and Todoroki, who must have been with Tenya in Tokoyami's room, also came down to the common room.
"It was Monoma!" Kirishima complained loudly, lacking the anger from before. "He had gathered most of the 1-A and 1-B students and was… was telling them his Hero name."
The students in the common room shared a glance.
Momo put down her teacup and looked at Kirishima. "… And?"
"The Great 2-A Basher — Copy Ninja!"
Frowns instantly appeared on all faces, including the likes of Tokoyami and Todoroki.
This wasn't the first time Monoma had done something like this, openly berating 2-A, leveraging his 3rd Rank in the Sports Festival. Every time, he chose a different Hero name, posting it straight to his social media accounts before making a big thing out of it the next day among the juniors.
"He does this intentionally," Jiro said, grinding her teeth. "He knows that none of the teachers would let him have that Hero name."
"Yeah…" Tsuyu nodded. "There's a girl from my neighborhood in 1-B. She told me that, the other day, she overheard Monoma telling a few girls how he choked the entire Class 2-A in the Battle Royale."
The moment Asui finished her sentence, she realized she shouldn't have said that.
From Izuku to Luke, from Todoroki to Bakugo, from Aoyama to Tenya… every single boy's eyes narrowed, their breathing quickening.
And just as they took a step together, Momo lifted her empty teacup and slammed it right on the table once again with a WHAM!
"You're all playing right into Monoma's hands," she said, standing up. "Do you think it was just a coincidence that Kirishima heard him? Or how Tsuyu's junior just happened to overhear him?"
A silence lingered in the common room, the vengeful expressions gaining an unsightly frown.
"… What do you mean?" Kaminari said, chuckling… weakly. "You don't think he's doing this on purpose, right? It's Monoma we are talking about! He doesn't have the brains for something like this… And, he knows that if we heard him saying this bs then we're gonna kick his a…"
Kaminari's eyes widened.
Not only him, but those who hadn't understood Momo's words also gasped in shock.
"Yeah…" Tenya nodded, taking a deep breath to calm himself. "Yaoyorozu is right. Monoma knows what our reaction will be… He wants us to go to him and give him a lesson…"
"… on the night of our Provisional Hero License Exam," Midoriya added, finishing the sentence. "He wants us to get in trouble with the teachers."
Momo nodded and then sat down.
"Damn!" Kirishima said, slumping into the sofa. "I… just played right into it, didn't I?"
Behind him, Bakugo was thinking the same, too, perhaps, because his face had twisted into an ugly scowl.
"Hey, I have an idea…"
Everyone suddenly looked toward Luke as he threw the controller toward Tenya, making the guy fumble as he caught it involuntarily.
Going around Tenya, Luke approached Todoroki and threw his arm around Todoroki's neck.
"Guess… who doesn't need to worry about tomorrow's Exam?" Luke asked, wearing a smirk.
And, together, smiles began appearing on all faces, their shoulders finally relaxing…
… because tomorrow was going to be one of the biggest days of their entire lives!