All one hundred students launched at once toward the collapsed buildings and ruined zones. A human wave that began breaking into different directions the moment it entered the field.
Iida was running and his voice barely cleared the sound of his own boots. "Saving lives... this is a hero's greatest calling!"
Midoriya beside him, keeping his breath steady despite the pace. "We have to do this right. Properly."
Elsewhere, Shindo ran with his mind working in parallel. "He mentioned points, but he didn't say anything about how they're recorded."
Todoroki said without breaking his stride: "Since we don't know, all we can do is follow our training."
Above everyone, Inasa deployed his wind and rose into the air, shouting with energy that seemed to have no ceiling. "Let's do this! Let's do this! Let's do this!"
And at the back, Zoro ran lightly. Not fast. Not slow. Just his own pace. He looked left and right as students streamed past him on both sides.
"You're all in too much of a hurry."
He placed his hand on Wado Ichimonji's hilt and a faint smile formed at the corner of his mouth. "I don't have time to waste competing on who arrives first. If someone needs saving, I'll find them."
Two minutes passed and the arena had swallowed everyone into different directions.
Midoriya's group stopped at the first major intersection of debris. Iida spoke in his usual organizing tone. "Let's head toward the nearest urban zone. We work as one team as much as possible."
They called out together: "Right!"
Midoriya turned back and scanned. "Wait, where's Zoro? I saw him behind us a moment ago."
Iida answered with something very close to a smile behind the words. "It sounds like he ended up lost somewhere."
Up ahead, Bakugo was running beside Mina when he suddenly changed direction, turning entirely opposite to the group.
Mina noticed and looked his way. "Again, Bakugo."
He didn't answer. He just kept walking.
A few steps later, he turned his head and found Kirishima and Kaminari following at exactly the same pace they always kept.
"Why are you following me? You're just an extra burden."
Both of them replied at the same moment: "We felt like it."
Mera's voice returned to the speakers. "Alright now. Please complete the second exam as quickly as possible."
In the monitoring room, Aizawa watched the screens and rubbed the side of his head with one hand. "Rescue drills. Some of them genuinely need this."
While Tsuyu and Ojiro ran alongside Midoriya's group, Tsuyu said in the same direct way she said everything: "Even if this is just a drill, it's pretty insane."
Ojiro shouted a warning suddenly: "Everyone, watch out for falling debris!"
Midoriya stopped without warning, his eyes fixing on a collapsed building to the right.
"Midoriya, what's wrong? Why did you stop?" Ojiro asked.
"I hear a child's voice."
In a narrow alley far from the main noise, Zoro walked slowly between the wreckage, his eyes sweeping every corner. "Where did everyone go? Did they change their route suddenly just to get away from me?"
He muttered with mild irritation, his hand touching his sword hilt.
Then he stopped.
His ears caught a faint sound from beneath a pile of metal panels and concrete. "Help... is anyone there? My chest... I can't breathe!"
Zoro approached. A man pinned under a massive concrete block, his face covered in dust and fake blood. The moment he saw Zoro, the script kicked in: "Hero! Please, I'm scared! Don't let me die here!"
Zoro stood in front of him for exactly one second. He exhaled with mild boredom. Then he bent down, slid both arms under the concrete block that weighed in tons, and with one blunt, decisive movement threw it aside like a pillow that had been in the way.
The actor's eyes went genuinely wide from somewhere that had nothing to do with the role. What is this physical strength?
Zoro didn't give him time to process it. He grabbed him by the collar, lifted him, threw him over his left shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and started running.
"Hey! What are you doing?! I'm injured!" the actor protested.
"Shut it and save your breath. You're alive, aren't you? Stay still so you don't fall." Zoro said it with a flat firmness and kept moving.
The actor pulled out a small notebook with difficulty while hanging off the shoulder and wrote with unsteady fingers: "Communication with victim: catastrophic. Complete absence of empathy. However... physical protection: excellent."
Back with Midoriya's group, he had run toward the sound and the others had followed. He found a child kneeling on the ground, calling out.
"Help! My grandfather! He was crushed!"
Midoriya closed the distance fast. "What? That's terrible! Where is he?"
The child's expression shifted entirely. He had fake blood around his head and shouted directly in Midoriya's face: "What was that? Points deducted!"
"What?!" Midoriya stepped back involuntarily.
"First, you're supposed to check if I can walk or not! My breathing was off too, wasn't it? And I'm bleeding heavily from the head! Anyone with a provisional license needs to assess the victim's condition in that moment and act accordingly."
Midoriya froze. Then he thought aloud: "Is it the H.U.C. members who are evaluating us on this drill?"
The child raised a finger. "This will show exactly how prepared you are. Look everywhere and pay attention."
In other parts of the arena, different groups were working in their own ways.
Nagamasa from Shiketsu stepped forward and released his Quirk. His hair extended and moved with precise force, shifting concrete blocks and large stones until a clear, wide space opened up in front of them. A perfect helicopter landing zone in under a minute.
Inasa called from the air and his voice was full of something that could only be described as joy: "As expected from Morasa! You're incredible, my friend!"
Over at Ketsubutsu, Shindo raised a long pole high and fixed a white flag to its top. "I'm setting up a first aid station right here!"
Makabe stood beside him holding a victim in his arms. "There's a lot of open space here. Let's establish a temporary evacuation zone."
"Right!" Shindo answered immediately, and Tatami was already sprinting. "I'll handle patient sorting!"
Aizawa watched all of it on the monitors and said quietly: "When it comes to saving lives, experience really does make a significant difference."
In the mountain zone, Zoro was still running with the man on his shoulder when the victim shouted suddenly.
"Hey, trainee! Where are you going?!"
"To the medical evacuation point! Where did you think I was going?!" Zoro shot back.
The man slapped his own forehead with his free hand. "The evacuation point is in the completely opposite direction! You're running straight toward the explosion zone, you idiot!"
Zoro's feet skidded against the ground and threw up a cloud of dust. He turned toward the victim with a face that had run out of patience. "And why didn't you say that from the beginning?! Do you expect me to read your thoughts?!"
"Because you never asked! And you never told me where we were going!"
On a nearby hill, Bakugo was standing with Kirishima and Kaminari. He had just lost valuable points for shouting at one of the victims, telling them to save themselves. When he looked down, he saw Zoro running with a man on his shoulder, both of them shouting at each other in a volume that reached all the way up.
"Turn left!" the victim yelled.
"I am turning left! You're the one who doesn't know directions!" Zoro yelled back as he turned sharply right.
Kirishima and Kaminari collapsed into laughter.
"Oh man, Zoro is arguing with the victim just to find the road!" Kaminari said, wiping his eyes.
Bakugo ground his teeth hard enough to feel it and sparks jumped from his palms. "That idiot with his broken compass! How is he allowed to carry victims when he's this lost?!"
.
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