Freeze Frame

Chapter 92

Third person pov

Lillian gazed nervously up at Center Plaza, shifting her weight from foot to foot. Shed'd asked her dad plenty of times if the practical exam was really robots or not, and each time he'd simply given that grin that told her that hey, it probably wasn't robots. But if it wasn't that, then what was it? Even Bakugo didn't seem to think they'd try the same thing twice. UA had a style, and that just wasn't it. They were unpredictable, and quite frankly a little scary. Lillian wondered if she should've dug her grave beforehand and made the funeral arrangements. No bother. If all else failed, Neito would know what she needed.

Now that they were actually here, it was becoming pretty obvious they'd either been misled or that the practical had simply been changed from whatever it was last year. All their teachers were here. If they were just fighting roots, Lillian really didn't see why they'd all need to be here. Even Hitoshi seemed on edge, standing so close to her their arms were touching as they both tried to deduce what was going on. She'd heard him mutter four vine references in the past minute alone, and she'd muttered six. Anxiety was on high, basically. 

"Now then... let's begin the last test." It was Lillian's dad who spoke. Lillian pulled on the sleeves of her hero costume, glancing uneasily at her classmates. They were all uneasy as well, clad in their hero costumes and clearly wondering just what was up. "Remember, it's possible to fail this final. If you wanna go to camp, then don't make any stupid mistakes."

Mic glanced at Lillian, trying not to let his concern show. The Little Listener was totally spooked. She'd gotten lots of encouraging comments from her ever-growing fan base, as Mic had mentioned finals were coming up fast. Not that he needed to tell them. Summer was fast on its way, and they were all aware of what came them. He'd gotten several questions asking if Lillian would rejoin the show over the summer, if she'd be participating in any of the photo shoots she'd been invited to take part in, and such of that like. It was a bit overwhelming, but more exciting than not.

"We're so fucked." Hitoshi whispered so lowly even Lillian barely heard him, and she was standing right next to the guy. Lillian nodded. Because really, why were all the teachers here? There was absolutely no reason for it if they were going to be up against robots. She sort of wanted to cry. Just a little. It wasn't like, a big deal or anything. Just some minor panic that was maybe slowly but surely swelling into complete and total mayhem within her brain. Just the usual. It was fine. She was fine! This was totally cool and she wasn't going to cry. Not even a little. Hyperventilation? We don't know her. 

"D-Do you think we'll die?" Lillian asked in a hushed tone.

"No." Hitoshi admitted quietly. He added as an afterthought, "Whatever's going to happen will be worse."

Lillian winced at that, knowing good and well that he was probably right. She didn't like the grin on Mic's face, or the glint in her dad's eyes. Lillian vaguely wondered if it was too late to feign sickness. Maybe pretend her period started and book it. Even better, she could freeze the teachers and her classmates, and they'd never know she was gone until they tried to find her. Only then would they realize she'd wussed out. It would totally get her kicked out of UA, but she sort of felt like vomiting at the moment anyway.

"Uh... why're all the teachers here?" Jiro seemed to realize. Lillian watched horror dawn on many of her classmates faces and felt a little better knowing her pain was shared. How it hadn't hit them before was honestly a mystery to her. Were they living in their own little fairy lands where everything was sunshine and rainbows? If so, she wanted tickets in-

"I'm sure many of you have gathered information and believe you have some idea of what you'll be faced with today." Aizawa's eyes scanned the crowd. Lillian winced a bit. This was horrible and she, decidedly, wanted it to end. Her dad was looking at her too. A bad sign if she ever saw one. Mr. Mic was doing the same thing, which made things worse. Hitoshi looked ready to keel over, also not the best thing on the planet. He hadn't really had a lot of hero training. They were being pretty cruel, plunging him into the deep end like this. It was like throwing an acorn at the dirt and expecting it to not only plant itself, but to grow into a moderate sized tree within the span of a few hours as well.