Kimitsuki took her lunch at the Lunch Rush's Eatery and walked over to join her table that she took with Izuku, Tenya and Ochaco, and she was pleased to see that Shoto and Tsuyu were joining them that day. She smiled as she took a seat with Izuku – she was always open to having lunch with her classmates since all of them were very interesting people.
"Itadakimasu!"
"The practical exam, huh?" Izuku spoke up as everyone began to eat their lunch. Kimitsuki looked up from her tray to find a very thoughtful but concerned look on his face at the idea. "It's kind of scary since I can't tell what will be on it,"
"I don't think it'll be anything crazy," Tenya said.
"The written exam questions will come from what we study in class," Izuku went on. "So, I should be able to manage somehow, but..."
"You can manage, huh?" Ochaco said, who had herself come 14th in the class rankings for the midterm examinations, and Kimitsuki knew she was concerned.
"Seriously, what'll we have to do for the practical exam?" Izuku thought out loud as he chewed on his food. Kimitsuki swallowed her food before speaking.
"Izu-Chan, you might choke if you talk while eating," Kimitsuki informed him. "Aizawa Sensei said that the exams will be a comprehensive test of everything from the first semester. However, we must not completely forget everything we learned in this semester, too,"
"Yes," Tsuyu agreed. "That's all Aizawa Sensei would tell us..."
"Everything we did so far..." Ochaco spoke thoughtfully. "So, combat training and rescue training, and then basic training..."
"In addition to studying," Izuku said. "We'll have to keep in good physical conditio –" He was cut off when someone suddenly rammed their tray into his head.
"Izu-Chan!" Kimitsuki gasped.
"Oh, sorry," spoke around Monoma Neito. "Your head was so big that I accidentally hit it,"
"You're from Class B..." Izuku said. "Um... Monoma-Kun! How dare you –"
"I heard you guys met the hero killer," Neito interjected. "Just like at the sports festival, you guys in Class A just have to have all the attention, huh? But that attention isn't because people have high hopes for you. It's because you keep attracting trouble, right? Oh, that's scary. Someday, the rest of us might also be caught up in the trouble you bring and become victims as well... like getting cursed by the god of pestilence! Oh, that's sca –"
"Monoma-Kun, that's rude," Kimitsuki spoke up as she stood up from her chair, not very happy with the tangent the boy was going off on. "I don't want to report your behaviour,"
Neito, Kimitsuki realised, was the same height as her at the moment, and as she met eyes with his periwinkle pair, he seemed to have gone into shock. She had barely begun to concern herself if she had pulled him into a Genjutsu when there was a loud noise –
"Kendo-San!" Kimitsuki gasped.
For Kendo Itsuka had appeared out of seemingly nowhere, and taking advantage of Neito's rigidness, smacked the blond on the back of his neck, knocking him out clean.
"Monoma, that's not funny," Itsuka told the unconscious boy, grabbing the fallen blond's tray before it crashed. "Don't you know what happened to Iida?"
"Kendo-San... is that alright to do?" Kimitsuki asked, concerned.
"Sorry, Class A, and to you, Kuroyanagi," Itsuka said. "This guy's heart's just kinda, you know,"
"His heart?!" Izuku exclaimed.
"You guys were talking earlier about how you don't know what's gonna be on the practical exam for the finals, right?" Itsuka asked. "Looks like it'll be combat against robots like in the entrance exam,"
"What? Really?!" Izuku asked. "How do you know?"
"An upperclassman friend of mine told me," Itsuka replied. "It's kind of cheating, though,"
"No, it's not cheating," Izuku said before going off muttering, "That's right, I'm sure gathering information ahead of time is also part of the test. I see, I should've asked some upperclassmen... why didn't I realise?"
"Are you an idiot, Kendo?" Neito said, and Kimitsuki noticed that he had come back around. "We had an information advantage! This was our chance to get ahead of the detestable Class A!"
"They're not detestable!" Itsuka shouted, knocking him out again and dragging him away with his tray back to their table for lunch.
"She's like the big sister of Class B, huh?" Izuku trailed off. "She's like Tsuki-Chan... just a bit... bolder and out-spoken, huh?" Kimitsuki blushed.
"Izu-Chan, I'm the youngest in our class," Kimitsuki whispered before looking around. "Let's finish with our lunch, and we should share Kendo-San's information to others, too. Only then it would be fair for all of us, you know? The Practical Exam,"
They all had their lunch and returned to the class but Kimitsuki waited until the day was coming to an end, as she didn't want a ruckus, before she informed them of what they had just found from Itsuka regarding the practical exam. And just as Kimitsuki had expected from her friends, this information quickly cheered them up, especially Mina and Denki.
"All right!"
Kimitsuki smiled as Mina and Denki cheered around the class – after all, aside from the two recommended students, they had faced the robots in their entrance exam, and even their two classmates who hadn't now knew how to deal with them due to the Sports Festival.
"Oh, it'll be easy if it's robots!" Denki exclaimed, looking more relieved than ever.
"Yeah, yeah!" Mina agreed.
"You guys look like you'd have a hard time controlling your Quirks against people," Mezo said as he turned to look at Mina's Acidity and Denki's Electricity.
"Yeah!" Denki replied. "But I can just let loose with robots, so it'll be a cinch!"
"And it'll be a cinch for me to melt them!" Mina said, and Kimitsuki smiled, remembering very well that Mina had done really well on the exam, too.
"Now you just need Yaoyorozu to help you study, and you'll be set for the finals!" Hanta added, walking over to them and leaning against the desk next to Kimitsuki.
"We'll definitely be able to go to training camp now!" cheered Denki and Mina.
"You'll still be helping out, right, Kuroyanagi-Chan?" Hanta asked, looking over at the white-haired girl standing nearby. "Even though we're just having robots for practical?"
"I think I must still help," Kimitsuki replied. "After all, it would be easy on Yaoyorozu-Chan if she had someone else to help her teach all the students..."
"I knew it!" Hanta said, grinning. "You're too nice to let us on our own, Kuroyanagi-Chan," Kimitsuki chuckled behind her hand.
"It's nothing like that, Sero-Kun," Kimitsuki replied, pink on her cheeks. "I really do enjoy studying, and I love helping others out with their studies, too so it's no problem for me,"
"Did you want to be a teacher, too, Kuroyanagi-Chan?" Hanta asked.
"Actually, I wanted to be a modiste," Kimitsuki admitted, looking away with a blush. "But then... I found a desire to help others and now I'm here... to be a Hero,"
"What's a modiste?" Denki asked.
"A dressmaker," Kimitsuki answered politely. "I love making dresses, and other clothing... I was actually... thinking of making everyone some nice jumpers..."
"You're going to make us jumpers?!" asked Mina excited, throwing her arms around Kimitsuki. "Oh, Kimitsuki-Chan, you're the best! Thank you!"
"In fact, you can all tell me what colour you'd like!" Kimitsuki said, growing excited at their excitedness as well. "But first! You must do well on exams, okay?"
"Of course, Kuroyanagi-Chan!" Denki replied, nodding with Hanta and Mina. "With you and Yaoyorozu helping us with studying, and the practical been robots... it'll be a cinch for sure!"
"It doesn't matter if they're people or robots," Katsuki interjected. "They're the same if you beat 'em up, right? What are you idiots talking about it being a cinch for?"
Kimitsuki looked up in surprise, turning around to look at Katsuki, who had been leaving the class as the school day was over, and found him to be looking very bothered today. She wasn't quite sure what had happened but she felt like she had a hunch – but what she did know was that she did not like the way Katsuki was behaving, especially his expression.
"Who are you calling an idiot?!" Denki exclaimed.
"Shut up!" Katsuki shouted right back. "If you need to control your Quirk, then control it! Idiot!"
"Ka-Chan!" Kimitsuki exclaimed, surprised at his aggression that seemed to come out of seemingly nowhere – he had been completely alright all day long.
"Not now, Class Rep," Katsuki growled before looking straight at Izuku, who gulped. "Hey, Deku! I don't know if you've figured out how to use your Quirk a little or what. But you seriously keep rubbing me the wrong way,"
"Oh, he must be talking about how Deku-Kun was moving like Bakugo-Kun the other day," Ochaco said as she walked over to Kimitsuki, Mina and Denki.
"Oh, yeah!" Mina agreed, remembering.
"I don't need another half-assed result like at the sports festival," Katsuki went on. "At the upcoming finals, we'll get individual scores, so we'll see who's better whether you like it or not. I'll beat you with an indisputable difference! I'll kill you! Todoroki! You, too!"
"Ka-Chan, watch it!" Kimitsuki warned, taking a step forward. "I can't believe this – you can't threaten to kill people!" She shook her head, distraught at the return of the threats. "Please don't say things like that in front of me..."
Kimitsuki looked away from him, turning her back to him and when she felt his eyes move off of her back, the white-haired girl knew that Katsuki had left the classroom.
"It's been a while since I've seen Bakugo that intense," Eijirou commented. "I told him to stop being an idiot in front of Kuroyanagi-Chan, too... she's having a tough time due to that idiot,"
"Kimitsuki-Chan, are you upset?" Mina asked, bounding over back to the younger girl to make sure that she wasn't too upset. "I'll teach him a lesson for you!"
"I'll help!" Hanta agreed, giving a thumbs-up.
"Are you guys going to jump him or what?" Denki asked, weary. "It does sound interesting, though... can I join the lot of you with that?"
"Please, it's alright, you don't have do anything," Kimitsuki said. "Ka-Chan's not a bad person. He's just got a limited vocabulary," She glanced over her shoulder to where the blond had disappeared. "And he needs to deal with his emotions in a healthier manner... he deals with anger the way he deals with his sweat – he explodes,"
🤍
While it had been very disappointing for Kimitsuki to hear Katsuki threaten others' lives again, she could not dwell on these thoughts for long, especially as the exams approached closer and closer on the calendar. She was spending a majority of her time studying at home, and the rest of it was spent helping her classmates, and take care of her new Kit-Chan.
It was the better to not dwell on what Katsuki had said, either, because Kimitsuki was sure that the stress would only make it harder for her to concentrate. And Kimitsuki was not ready to get anything else than first position, not when she had kept it her entire life.
Just as she had promised to Momo and others, Kimitsuki made sure to travel to her home to help them with studies, and it was far beyond Kimitsuki's imagination.
Momo's home looked to be quite as big as the Mushanokouji Estate that Kimitsuki had visited (although Kimitsuki had not seen the whole of either) but they couldn't be any more different – the Yaoyorozu Estate was very modern-inspired, and the Mushanokouji Estate was entirely traditional. Still, Kimitsuki found it all too be very beautiful.
On the other hand, Aizawa was not allowing Kimitsuki to slack off with her physical training every single day, especially since Hitoshi was starting to join them, too – reminding his student again and again that she needed to sharpen her body and mind simultaneously.
Hitoshi found Kimitsuki's behaviour amusing, and while he mainly did it to break the ice over how serious he was being, the white-haired girl was grateful for his teasing since it always caught her off guard and allowed her to relax out a bit when she responded.
Then began the three long days of written exams, and Kimitsuki was relieved to find that they were all doing well. Katsuki, while clearly upholding his threats against Izuku and Shoto, had not gone around bursting out on others so there was a bit of relief for Kimitsuki in that manner. And she hoped to talk to him about it and put an end to it after exams.
Due to the advantages that Kimitsuki had with her visual Quirk, she took on her tradition of wearing glasses throughout her written exams, even though Aizawa admitted to her that he knew that she would not cheat on her tests due to being a truth student.
"Pencils down, everybody," Aizawa announced as the time allocated for their last written exam finished. "The last person in each row, collect the answer sheets and bring them here,"
Momo was sitting at the end of her row so Kimitsuki handed her exam papers to the black-haired girl with a smile as she headed to collect from the others in their line.
"Thanks, Yao-Momo, and Kimitsuki-Chan!" Mina called out to the two females.
"I didn't leave anything blank, at least!" Denki exclaimed.
"You're all welcome," Kimitsuki replied happily, taking off her glasses and putting them away into their case and slipping it into her desk. "Izu-Chan, how did you do?"
"I'm so tired, Tsuki-Chan..." Izuku replied, sprawled over his desk and Kimitsuki chuckled, shaking her head. "It went well but I'm still very tired..."
"You can sleep well tonight, Izu-Chan," Kimitsuki told him, smiling.
Something bumped against Kimitsuki's desk suddenly and she turned to see that Katsuki had gotten up so roughly that his chair ended up striking her desk. She looked at him with inquiry but Katsuki did not look at her or Izuku as he left the classroom.
Practical Exam Area – Centre Plaza:
"Now, we will begin the practical exam," Aizawa announced to the entirety of Class 1-A that was now gathered in front of him in their Hero Costumes. "Of course, it is possible to fail this exam. If you want to go to the training camp, then don't make any stupid mistakes,"
"There are a lot of teachers..." Kyoka commented, and Kimitsuki nodded slowly.
Aizawa was not the only one joining them, unlike what Kimitsuki had expected – the area looked a bit full, actually, with the presence of Midnight, Snipe, Present Mic, Thirteen, Cementoss, Ectoplasm and Power Loader. Kimitsuki hoped everything was okay.
"I expect that you all have gathered information ahead of time," Aizawa continued onward. "And have some idea of what you will be doing,"
"We're fighting robot warriors like at the entrance exam, right?" Denki asked, excited.
"Fireworks! Curry!" Mina cheered up at the prospect of going to the summer camp with the rest of the class, hopping forward. "Test of Courage!"
"Too bad!"
Kimitsuki looked up in surprise when Principal Nezu appeared out of Aizawa's scarf the same way Neko-Chan snuggled around in her hoodies during winters. Certainly, Kimitsuki was not the only one surprised by this but Aizawa looked a bit too okay with this.
"For various reasons, the exam will be different starting this time!" informed Principal Nezu, climbing down Aizawa with the help of his scarf.
"Principal Nezu!" exclaimed Hanta, Kyoka and Mashirao while Denki and Mina both froze at the back of the group, losing all colour in their bodies.
"Different?" Momo asked, concerned.
"How so?" Kimitsuki inquired, curious.
"From now on," Principal Nezu informed them. "We want to focus on person-to-person combat and hero work, and stress teaching that is closer to actual fighting. So, ... we'll have you form teams of two or three to fight against one teacher!"
"Against... the teachers?" Ochaco asked, shocked, her brown eyes wide.
"In addition, the teams and who each team will be up against have already been decided," Aizawa told them. "These were determined at my discretion based on various factors, including fighting style, grades, and interpersonal relationships,"
Kimitsuki looked at Aizawa in surprise – he hadn't even hinted something like this would happen, but he must've known she would've told her friends for 'fairness'. But still, Kimitsuki was surprised that it was him who picked the students, and that concerned her a bit.
"So, here they are," Aizawa went on. "First, Todoroki and Yaoyorozu are one team, and they're fighting me,"
"It's okay," Kimitsuki whispered to Momo when she went rigid. "You can do it, Yaoyorozu-Chan. You're very smart and resourceful – you can do it even if he takes away your Quirk. We discussed this during our study session, remember? We even discussed Aizawa Sensei,"
"Kuroyanagi," Aizawa spoke up and Kimitsuki straightened up. "You're going to be in the same team as Midoriya and Bakugo," Her eyes widened. "And your opponent is..."
"I will do it!"
All three of them – Kimitsuki, Izuku and Katsuki – watched in shock as All Might appeared out of nowhere and landed in front of them in his muscle form. Some of their classmates gasped in surprise but Kimitsuki could already envision the problems they will be facing fighting against All Might with Katsuki's personality – she could suddenly tell the future.
"All Might?!"
"Work together to beat me, you three!" All Might told them, and Kimitsuki felt her soul leaving her body as she glanced at Katsuki on her left and Izuku on her right.
It was the perfect team – if one was looking to make it completely certain that they would fail. Kimitsuki rubbed her face as she thought about it. Izuku was a reluctant person, he would too submissive with what Katsuki wanted, and Katsuki would not listen to them and just do whatever he wanted, and Kimitsuki was... still unsure how to talk to them.
"And now, we'll announce the teams and the teachers they'll be up against all at once!" Principal Nezu said, and Kimitsuski glanced up to see as well.
Match 1 ––––––––––––––––––––– Kirishima Eijirou & Sato Rikido VS Cementoss
Match 2 ––––––––––––––––––– Tokoyami Fumikage & Asui Tsuyu VS Ectoplasm
Match 3 –––––––––––––––––––– Iida Tenya & Ojiro Mashirao VS Power Loader
Match 4 ––––––––––––––– Todoroki Shoto & Yaoyorozu Momo VS Eraser Head
Match 5 ––––––––––––––––––––– Uraraka Ochaco & Aoyama Yuga VS Thirteen
Match 6 ––––––––––––––––– Kaminari Denki & Ashido Mina VS Principal Nezu
Match 7 –––––––––––––––––––––––––– Koda Koji & Jiro Kyoka VS Present Mic
Match 8 –––––––––––––––––––––––––– Shoji Mezo & Hagakure Toru VS Snipe
Match 9 ––––––––––––––––––––––– Mineta Minoru & Sero Hanta VS Midnight
Match 10 – Kuroyanagi Kimitsuki, Midoriya Izuku & Bakugo Katsuki VS All Might
"The time limit for the exam is thirty minutes!" Principal Nezu informed them. "Your objective is either to put these handcuffs on the teacher," Kimitsuki glanced at the handcuffs. "Or to have one of you escape from the stage!"
"Capture the teacher or escape..." Denki spoke up thoughtfully and Kimitsuki looked toward him. "It's kind of like the combat training,"
"Is it really okay to run away?" Mina asked.
"Yup," Principal Nezu replied.
"But it'll be different from the combat training!" Present Mic told them. "You'll be up against someone waaaaaay better than you!"
"Better than us...?" Kyoka asked and Koji tried to keep her from continuing, given that they were going to be together, "I can't really imagine it, though..."
"Dummy!" Present Mic exclaimed. "Hey girl, watch your mouth! You hear?"
"This time, your exam will be very similar to a real battle," Thirteen told them, interjecting into Present Mic's English exclamations. "Please think of us as villains,"
"Assuming you come across the enemy," Snipe spoke up. "If you think you can win a fight against them, then that's fine. However –"
"In cases where there's too big a difference in your abilities," Aizawa added. "It would be smarter to run away and get help. Kuroyanagi, Todoroki, Iida, Midoriya, I'm sure you four understand this well,"
"I won't make that mistake again," Tenya said as he looked down at his left hand. "I will pass this test and prove that!"
"Fight and win, or run and win," Izuku pointed out.
"That's right!" All Might said. "Your decision-making skills are being tested! But with these rules, you're probably thinking the only choice is to run, right? That's why we had the support course make these for us!"
"Ultra-compressed weights?" Kimitsuki inquired, eying the object that All Might was showing them. "Ah, I have seen those... I mean, tinkered with them,"
"That's right!" All Might confirmed. "We'll put on about half of our body weight. It's to give you a handicap. It's old-fashioned, but it makes it hard to move and eats up stamina!"
"Um, All Might, are you sure you want to put all six of them...?" Kimitsuki asked, watching in concern as the Number One Hero put one on each ankle and two on each wrist.
"Oh shoot, they're heavier than I thought..." All Might said and Kimitsuki sighed. "By the way, there was a competition to decide on the design, and we ended up using Young Hatsume's,"
"Hatsume-San!" Izuku exclaimed and Kimitsuki nodded in recognition as well.
"To allow us to consider fighting you, huh?" Katsuki asked. "You're underestimating us,"
All Might laughed at this but his eye glinted a bit dangerously, "I wonder,"
"All right, each team will take the practical exam in order on the prepared stage," Aizawa said as he looked at his class. "Sato, Kirishima, get ready,"
"Yes, sir!" replied Eijirou and Rikido.
"Good luck, Kirishima-Kun, Sato-Kun," Kimitsuki said, holding up her fist.
"Thanks, Kuroyanagi-Chan!" said the two boys.
"Those waiting their turn can watch the exams or think of strategies as a team," Aizawa told them. "Do what you want. That's all," He joined the teachers as they went inside the building, leaving the students to deal with their teams and strategies.
"Ojiro-Kun, I would like to see what we can do with our Quirks," Tenya said, immediately turning to face his teammate, who looked at the Class Representative.
"Of course," Mashirao agreed.
"Tokoyami-Chan, let's come up with a plan," Tsuyu spoke, turning to look at her own teammate.
"Very well," Fumikage replied.
"The problem is how to strip Midnight Sensei, right?" Minoru asked.
"No," Hanta responded to his teammate. "You're such a scumbag,"
Kimitsuki watched in silence as one by one all the teams walked off into the building, talking with each other. She turned to look at her own team, which consisted of her childhood friends yet that fact made it harder on her than anything easy as one would expect.
"Okay," Kimitsuki said, wanting to be assertive. "Izu-Chan, and Ka-Chan, we must talk about what's going to happen in the field against All Might – Ka-Chan?"
Katsuki was already walking off away from them, and he wasn't even heading into the building. Kimitsuki frowned as she stared after him, and sighed.
"Come on, we can discuss something between each other first," Izuku muttered, already being that sort of submissive, and Kimitsuki sighed again. "We'll fit him in somewhere,"
"Alright..." Kimitsuki said, her eyes still toward Katsuki as she followed Izuku.
Izuku led the way to the Monitor Room, and Kimitsuki was not surprised to see that they were the only ones there as all others were discussing strategies. Recovery Girl was there, and she turned to look at the two of them as they entered the room.
"Oh, it's you two,"
"Good to see you, Recovery Girl," Kimitsuki greeted, bowing as per usual. "Are you going to be keeping an eye on us? Thank you very much..."
"Well, it looks like I'll have a lot of work today," Chiyo said as she looked back up at the screens to monitor on the injuries on field. "But you're welcome, of course,"
"Oh?" Ochaco asked as she entered the monitor room as well, not with her teammate surprisingly. "You're watching, too, Deku-Kun and Kimitsuki-Chan?"
"Yeah," Izuku replied and Kimitsuki nodded. "We don't have many chances to see other students and the teachers fight. Besides, even if we wanted to talk about strategies..."
"I see," Ochaco spoke. "Well, for me It's like there's no point trying to talk to him. That's why I thought I'd try to use everyone else's fights for reference,"
"Yes," Izuku muttered. "I have to pass this exam by any means possible,"
"Team Sato and Kirishima, practical exam,"
🤍