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"— And so, it is best to keep that in mind as you all go out there and not only work hard to pass the exams, but to protect each other since it is a big part of a hero's duty—" The man speaking on stage was the last out of three sponsors who were up there, earlier.
Kaminari tapped on Bakugo's shoulder, since he was sitting right behind them, only to whisper something stupid very close to his ear. "A hero's booty, pft."
"Die already."
[____] had half listened to what the pro-hero, Endeavor, and her maternal grandmother were saying when they were acting as the spokesmen a while back. It was something about UA's hopes and confidence in its students, as well as why they were proud to stand in front of the press and support their words with actions and money donations.
'I had no idea grandma gave money to UA...I wonder how many years she's been associated with them, if she's hardly in Japan for the most part...' [____] was thinking about that as her crush yawned out of boredom out of the blue.
"Katsuki...Are you sure you slept enough last night?"
"I drank some coffee, I'll be fine. Focus on yourself, don't go staining that hero costume of yours. You'll regret it if it happens on live TV; and then I'll never hear the end of your crying."
[____] didn't know what to say, so instead she fixed her posture and tried to focus back on the last bit of the sponsor's speech. 'I hope nobody heard that...Geez, Suki...You don't have to keep bringing it up...'
"Sero, did you see [____]'s costume?" Denki whispered to his exam partner, "Check her out, but don't look too hard. Otherwise Bakugo will try to puncture your eyeballs with his spiky hair—"
"Dude, no. I'm not trying to check a classmate out while they might be feeling uncomfortable during their shark days, it's just wrong." Hanta whispered back.
"Ah, come on. Don't be a lame-ass."
"You may now start stretching; we will see you in the arena in five minutes." The last person to speak into the mic was one of the staff teaching class B; [____] didn't recognize him but she noticed everyone else around her were starting to chat and get up from their seats, so she did the same.
"Call me whatever you want, I'm not going to— Holy fuck." Sero was sitting right behind her; he found himself not being able to look away as much as he tried. "Denki, cover my eyes for me."
"Ooooh, you're hella staring. Wait, hold on...Does this mean that...?" Kaminari, after days of seeing the signs and ignoring them for some reason, finally realized Hanta was crushing on someone from their class. "Eh? No freaking way, dude!"
"Shut up, shut up!" Sero used his hand to cover Denki's mouth at a perfect moment; exactly when the person he considered his team leader looked back at them with menacing eyes. "Bakugo, 'sup man?"
"Look somewhere else; if you wanna keep your eyes, that is."
"Mmhf mf mhffmm!!" Denki tried to speak.
"Even when I don't understand a thing you're saying, you're the most annoying person I've met. I can't wait to hurt you the most." Katsuki flicked him off for no good reason, and that was when [____] taunted him by pushing his shoulder. "Hey! What the fuck?!"
"Stop threatening our friends, Suki."
"Suki?!" — "Mmfm?!"
"Sorry. I meant to say Katsuki!"
Bakugo clicked his tongue. "Idiot. Don't get too comfortable, acting like you're actually my leader today. I'm gonna show you what I'm made of when we're out there, cheeks."
"I apologize. Come on, let's go talk about it over there! Don't be upset!" [____] urged him to stay a few feet away, at least, from their friends so she could try to make peace with her crush. She mouthed a 'sorry' to the guys as she pulled Katsuki by his arm to a different area.
Hanta nodded once to her; then watched as she did apologetic gestures to their team leader once they were alone. He had also forgotten about Kaminari until he began to French-kiss the palm of his hand. "Gross, man!"
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Back in UA; inside a certain general studies' classroom— The teacher walked by the rows of students to give each of them a packet of work to finish during the day. "To show support to our fellow mates in the hero course, I will be turning on the television during class."
As he announced, Hitoshi Shinso took a quick look at the papers in front of him. 'General studies...General work, fantastic.'
"Oh! Look, look! It's starting!" He listened to a few whispers surrounding him, a pair of girls were far more interested in the advertisers speaking about UA while being live at the sports arena.
"Are we seriously going to watch this? Doesn't it kind of suck that they're out there, having fun— being live all around Japan while we're just in here, doing math?" A guy sitting behind Hitoshi asked some of his classmates.
"Yeah, it's sort of degrading if I think about it." — "Eeeeh, but I enjoy watching some of the hero students make a fool out of themselves." — "Heheh, remember the sports festival; when that explosive dude from class A won first place but he wouldn't take the stand so they had to muzzle him, for real?"
As the chat began to head on to another direction, Hitoshi went back to focusing on his work only to be distracted by the girl he had just met the other night; wearing a rather unusual outfit in front of the cameras. 'Cat girl...?'
"Who's that? She's hot." The same guy who claimed watching the exam seemed 'degrading' quickly changed his tone of voice. "She's totally my type."
"Hey, wait a sec— Isn't she the daughter of that famous supermodel? Hmmm, what was her name again?" Even the girls became a little more loud as they figured it out on their own.
"Himeko Amachi?" — "Ah! Yes, that's it! Don't they look so much alike?!" — "I wonder what it's like to have have a mom in the model industry...And anyway, I hate to admit how much I dig her hero look."
Shinso held on to his pencil, he was going to write his name on the corner of the stack of papers but for a second— a long second, he decided it would be alright for him to watch the exam, instead.
'I'll be rooting for you, cat girl.'
Although he had no idea how or why he would feel this way about a stranger, he had no problem admitting his support— even from miles away, in a general studies classroom, while [____] wore a determined look behind the screen.
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'After the sponsorship talk was all over...I didn't get enough time to fully stretch. It's okay, though! This is it, [____]! You're going to do just fine...All you gotta do is clear your head!'
[____] puffed her cheeks and blew some air out of her mouth to help her relax a little more.
'Don't think!! Forget the cramps, and the strange stares people are giving me, the little comments here and there...Gosh! It's freezing out here! Forget about it, though. Forget it all— Just focus on passing this test!'
So far; she was going an outstanding job in getting rid of some pointless thoughts, but there was a certain individual walking towards her that made [____] feel overwrought in a flash. "Katsuki—! Wait, where is Todoroki?"
"I'm standing right by your side, [____]." Shoto replied calmingly, scaring the girl for his lack of presence. He had actually followed her from the cafeteria to the arena after Katsuki had left her side in order to stretch someplace else, on his own.
"AH— 'm so glad that we're all here!!" She cleared her throat once she felt her heart beating at a normal speed again. "I'm so nervous about this...I wanna apologize in advance, for making you two look bad with my grades and just in case I slow you down again, when we're out there!!"
Bakugo couldn't bare to listen to his crush talk so bad about herself— Just minutes before the test would start. "Quit it about the written exam. It's too late to be sad about it, now. We're all here and you're gonna make up for it by using your quirk to support my explosions."
"Bakugo, what about our chat?" Todoroki asked him.
"Hah? What are you talking about? Fuck off."
"You're pretending you don't remember? I'll say it again, then. I think [____] shouldn't use her quirk as much."
"You mentioned that in the bus too, but..." the girl, at first glance, was left a little confused. "I can't just not help you guys! Todoroki, I don't know what this whole thing is about but if my quirk helps Katsuki, then I'm going to use it as many times as I can and make sure I'm doing my part to win this, too!!
So please, quit asking me to not use my quirk 'cause no matter what, that won't happen! Also, I'm really sorry I pointed out your scar, earlier and I mean it!! Ahh— I mean, I meant my apology, just now. If there's anything I can do to make you feel better, please let me know immediately—"
"— There is. Don't use your quirk."
"What?"
"It would make me feel better to know you'll be safe. Let Bakugo and I handle everything out there."
"But, that's just..." [____]'s voice trailed off, and it wasn't only because she was at a loss for words.
Present Mic was away from the main grounds; talking into a microphone as loud as possible to make sure the students would get their ears clogged if they didn't hear what he had to say, first.
"ALL RIGHTY LISTENERS!! CLASS A AND CLASS B, FROM THE HERO COURSE. ARE WE READY TO ROCK AND ROLL?!!??!"
Only a couple of students covered their ears from the noise; [____] being one of them. "He's too loud!!"
"You'll get used to it." Bakugo was kind enough to let her know this. After last night; he was feeling more confident about his feelings for the girl.
Although he had yet to tell her; he wanted to be nicer bit by bit. This was his way of opening up to her and giving into the possibility of making her his girlfriend.
'Hold on...What is she wearing on her wrist?'
"THE FIRST EXAM WILL BE SIMPLE. IT WILL BE SO EASY, IT'S BASICALLY CHILD'S PLAY!!" When Present Mic shouted that; the arena began to tremble.
Some students took a few steps back, afraid of what was happening to the ground while others ran away to reach for an emergency exit.
"Wait! What is happening?!" [____] took note that more than half of her classmates were elsewhere while she was too busy trying to protect her ears from bleeding. "Where is everyone going?!"
"The arena is turning into something, a wall...I'm guessing?" Todoroki answered the obvious part of the problem. "[____], stay close to us. Don't run off."
"Stop trying to be her fucking hero, icyhot. She can handle herself, she doesn't need you to guide her away from anything." Bakugo also hadn't move much, aside from posing closer to the ground and getting ready to launch somewhere. "Tch, this is gonna be a fucking pain."
Shoto didn't respond to his aggression; but he did try to make it worse. "Bakugo. Remember we gotta keep [____] safe. I'm pretty sure we'll be greatly affected by our teamwork."
"No, it's okay! I'll be fine, I promise! Don't let me hold you guys back!!" Again, [____] tried to make them believe what she couldn't, quite yet. "You do what you have to do, and I'll try to stick by you two the entire time! No need to look for me cause I'll be there, I swear!"
"Fat cheeks. That ugly bracelet you're wearing; it's my gift from Ei, isn't it?" Katsuki disregarded her little motivational talk just to ask the most random thing she could imagine in that moment.
The ground had just finished morphing into a 80 ft tall wall, right in front of them and Bakugo was only glaring at the orange handmade jewelry [____] had on her wrist. She nodded once. "I wanted to give it to you after the exam was over, but if you want it right now, I could—"
"Wear it. I'll take it back after we win first place."
"A-Are you sure..?"
"As long as you have it on, I'll come to your damn rescue since it's mine and I don't want you to lose it."
[____] really wanted to smile, but the discomfort she was starting to receive in her lower stomach due to cramps was making it impossible for her face to show any sort of positive emotions.
'Suki, you could of just say that you want to rescue me, if you need to...You're using this as an excuse, aren't you? You're so cute; it hurts— Wait no!
Those are just cramps...Ouu, I should of taken some pain medication before class, this morning!'
"WOW!! CHECK OUT THE SIZE OF THAT WALL!! ARE YOU ALL SEEING WHAT IM SEEING?! OH YEAH, BABY!! IT'S A MAZE!"
"A maze..?" Shoto repeated.
"IT'S TIME FOR SHOWDOWN NUMBER ONE!!" There was an echo following Present Mic at this point; courtesy of his quirk. "REMEMBER, KIDDOS. THIS TEST IS ALL ABOUT TEAMWORK— YOUR JOB IS TO MAKE IT OUT OF THERE TOGETHER. IF ONLY ONE OF YOU MAKES IT, EACH OF YOU WILL ONLY GET HALF A GRADE!"
'Oh, great...I'm going to make us lose.' [____] was visibly shaken by the sudden loss of confidence. 'I'm not prepared at all...I didn't study or worked out enough. I'm so behind. I'm gonna suck, and I know it!'
"YOU MAY USE YOUR QUIRKS. IT IS STILL COMBAT; SO YOU CAN WIPE EACH OTHER OUT OR WORK TOGETHER WITH OTHER TEAMS, GO WITH YOUR GUT AND LET THE FUN BEGIN!! YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES TO GET TO THE END OF THE MAZE— ARE YOU READY?!"
[____] took in a deep breath. "Work with other teams...That might be the way to go! Right, guys?!"
"Absolutely fucking not." — "They're our enemy."
For once in [____]'s eyes, both Katsuki and Shoto agreed with each other at something. Although it wasn't necessarily what she wanted to hear at all. "Y-You mean...?"
"At the end of the day, it's our team against theirs." Todoroki pointed with his duo-colored eyes at the large-scale electric score sign in front of the arena. Every team leader's name was numbered and ready to be placed on an empty list.
"Pretend like these losers are the villains, fat cheeks." Bakugo once again, got into a fighting stance and prepared himself to propel out of there as soon as the test would start. "Our job right now is to get your stupid name to be number one."
"ON YOUR MARKS!!" Present Mic was having the time of his life, yelling at the students. "GET SET—!!"
"So what's the plan?! We're gonna fight everyone we encounter?! In that short amount of time?!" [____] asked her teammates.
"HELL YES!!" — "We should avoid conflict and just speed our way to the exit."
The two guys looked at each other for half a second; their answers were like left and right, while [____] didn't know which way to face. "I don't want us to lose—!!"
"— GO!!" Loud sound effects followed their English teacher's shout; and that was when [____]'s legs decided they should stop working.
"The walls— They're shifting?!"
She wanted to move forward; not just because a lot of other students were dashing to the entrance doors and bumping into her, pushing her around.
She had lost both of her teammates in a blink of an eye and she felt afraid, not to mention, exposed from the little bit of fabric her mother's design offered.
'I have to move...Come on, legs! Please move..'
As if her wish was about to be granted, a bright light in front of her began to blind some people and making them slow down, [____] included. 'An angel...?'
The hard kick she felt on the side of her arm proved her otherwise. Toru was the exact opposite of what she had originally thought. "Finally, we can finish where we left off, [____]!"
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💥KATSUKI LOVE METER💥
+5 points!
80/100
"Stupid bracelet...Shitty hair can be too kind for his own good, you know? It's so annoying."
🌹TODOROKI LOVE METER🌹
+10 points!
80/100
"Even if you don't need anyone to protect you, I'm still going to make sure you stay safe."
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[____]: I'm at a loss right now! We only have 5 minutes to reach the exit— What should I do?!
[a] Find Katsuki.
[b] Find Todoroki.
[c] Fight back.
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[an; hey guys it's me again— it's ya girl. hah. hell yeah. coming at ya with all the mistakes I could think of
I love how they equally like you rn; it's always dramatic when two dudes feel exactly the same. UGHH DRAMAMAMAMAMA
I'm trying to update as fast as I can so expect more updates than usual. I love you guys thanks so much for reading my story I miss writing this and I miss reading all your comments I love reading them fr it's my favorite thing atm
So comment all you want tell me anything you want<3 talk about how hot Bakugo is cause seriously I need to hear it more often from others.
Anyway I forgot about the meters for a bit. Highlights means it got the most votes so the story went on that route❤️.]