Chapter Text
The moment the timer’s ending signal echoed through the arena, Inasa immediately shot into the sky with a powerful gust of wind unleashed by his quirk.
While the other candidates scattered across the mini city, he was already soaring above the streets, propelled by the currents of his wind. A wide grin spread across his face as excitement filled his eyes.
“ALRIGHT!! Let’s do this!”
Driven by pure determination, Inasa darted between towering buildings, scanning every street, alley, and collapsed structure below for civilians in need of rescue or villains to defeat.
From high above, the mini city unfolded beneath him like a smaller version of the view from a plane flying low over the ground, making it easy for him to spot danger zones and trapped victims.
Within only 5 minutes, he’d already rescued 10 civilians. Yet despite all his searching, not a single villain had appeared.
Hovering beside the upper floors of a damaged building, Inasa scratched his cheek in confusion as the wind swirled around him.
“Huh? Where are all the villains supposed to be??”
Before he could continue searching, a loud voice suddenly echoed from a nearby street.
“Please remain calm! Your legs appear to be trapped beneath the debris, but I will rescue you immediately!”
Inasa blinked and turned toward the sound. Down below, a blue-haired boy with glasses and a square jaw was kneeling beside one of the rescue dummies, speaking to it with sincerity as though it were an actual injured civilian.
Despite it being only part of the simulation, the boy treated it with complete seriousness, carefully examining the ‘injuries’ while speaking in a calm yet urgent tone.
“I assure you, help has arrived!” The boy declared with conviction. “As a hero student candidate, it is my duty to protect civilians in danger!”
Every movement he made was careful and earnest, filled with discipline and sincerity.
For a moment, Inasa simply stared, then his eyes lit up with admiration.
“Ohhh!!” he shouted while sparkling with excitement. “Your passion is incredible! You’re treating this like a real rescue mission already! That’s the spirit of a true hero!!”
Without hesitation, he descended in a rush of wind, landing nearby with enthusiasm.
“I like you!!” Inasa declared loudly, “So I’m gonna help too!!”
Inasa immediately controlled the currents of wind around the rescue dummy, lifting it into the air with a powerful updraft. Once the ‘civilian’ was secure, he shot upward again, hovering high above the mock city so he could spot the rescue drop-off zone from afar.
“There it is!”
“HEY!”
All of a sudden, a loud shout from below cut him off.
Inasa blinked again and looked down.
The passionate blue-haired boy from earlier was staring up at him angrily, only now noticing that Inasa had inserted himself into his rescue mission. The lenses of his glasses flashed briefly as they caught the sunlight, only making him look even more irritated.
“You stole my rescue points!” the boy exclaimed in annoyance as he still robotically pointed at the dummy. “I was in the middle of assisting that civilian!”
Inasa froze at the accusation. “Huh…?”
For a brief second, he looked genuinely confused as he replayed his actions in his head.
Then, realization struck him.
“OH! Oops!!” Inasa laughed apologetically, scratching the back of his head while still floating in the air. “Sorry about that! I just got excited because I liked your passion so much, so I thought I’d help!”
Inasa would usually apologize properly, but since he was still hovering in the air, he couldn’t exactly bow like he normally did. So instead, he decided to bring the dummy back to appease the passionate boy.
Even though the rescue dummy was already halfway to the drop-off zone, he immediately turned it around with his wind control.
“Here! I’ll give the civilian back to you!” he declared.
He didn’t want to ruin the other boy’s chance to earn rescue points, especially when he’d worked so seriously to reach the civilian first.
Descending quickly, Inasa lowered himself toward the street to hand the dummy back personally. But just before his shoes touched the ground, something suddenly felt… wrong.
He could feel the wind behind him shift unnaturally.
One second, the air had been calm. The next, the pressure shifted drastically. It was sharp enough to make his instincts flare.
It felt as though something had suddenly appeared directly behind him, fast and dangerous enough to cut through the flow of the wind itself.
‘An attack!’ Inasa quickly realized.
Without even thinking, he shoved the civilian dummy toward the blue-haired boy’s arms while spinning around at the same time. Wind burst from his body in a powerful blast, whipping through the street as he attempted to blow away whatever had snuck up on him.
But when he turned, there was nothing there.
“What?!” Inasa shouted in surprise.
Then suddenly, he heard something nearby.
“Ack!”
A yelp came from behind him.
Inasa quickly whipped around. The passionate boy had been knocked backward, skidding across the ground for several meters as though something had slammed into him at incredible speed.
‘SO FAST?!’
“PASSION BOY!”
Inasa rushed toward him immediately, but the moment he got close, his eyes suddenly caught something else.
A branch was embedded deep into the rescue dummy’s chest. And attached to it was a tag with one word written in bold letters.
FAIL.
The two hero-training candidates froze at the unexpected outcome. Then, the speakers overhead crackled loudly.
“ONE CIVILIAN IS DEAD!” the announcer declared loudly. “THE MORE CIVILIANS YOU LOSE, THE FEWER RESCUE POINTS YOU’LL RECEIVE! SOOO TRY TO PREVENT THE VILLAINS FROM KILLING THEM!”
Silence fell between them after that announcement.
Inasa stared at the destroyed dummy, then at the branch, and finally at the passionate boy who’d become the victim of the villain’s sudden attack.
“… Oh.”
He’d already screwed up.
——
“ONE CIVILIAN IS DEAD! THE MORE CIVILIANS YOU LOSE, THE FEWER RESCUE POINTS YOU’LL RECEIVE! SOOO TRY TO PREVENT THE VILLAINS FROM KILLING THEM!”
The announcement echoed loudly across the mini city from hidden speakers Shouto couldn’t pinpoint.
That immediately caught his attention. His footsteps slowed slightly as he processed the new information, his heterochromatic eyes narrowing in thought.
‘They never mentioned this during the explanation…’
Which meant there were hidden rules built into the exam itself. Secret traps, unexpected variables, or sudden changes meant to test how quickly the candidates could adapt to changing situations.
Through the comm device in his ear, Momo’s calm voice suddenly came through, though he could also hear the slight strain of concentration beneath it.
“Todoroki-kun… should we change our plan? If villains are actively targeting civilians, searching for the villain first might be more effective now…”
Shouto considered it for only a moment before shaking his head. Realizing she couldn’t actually see the gesture through the comm, he answered immediately.
“No,” he replied evenly. “Stay focused on the drones.”
His voice remained steady despite the new complication.
“We prioritize civilian rescues and secure as many rescue points as possible during the first 15 minutes, especially now that villains can eliminate civilians.” His eyes swept across the streets ahead of him. “After that, we move to the next phase of the plan.”
There was a brief pause before Momo responded in agreement. “Understood.”
From the sounds coming through the comm, she was still in the middle of extracting a rescue dummy from a collapsed structure, likely using support items she’d created on the spot with her quirk. The occasional metallic clank and shifting debris made that obvious.
Shouto and Momo’s strategy had been simple but efficient.
Momo had created several small drones to scan different sectors of the city simultaneously, letting them to locate civilians, danger zones, and possible villain activity way faster than searching manually.
While the drones gathered information, the two of them focused on rescue operations and securing points efficiently.
Shouto thought it was a smart and efficient plan too. After all, he’d developed it together with Yaoyorozu Momo, one of the most intelligent people he knew.
Shouto exhaled quietly through his nose as his thoughts drifted toward her.
Her quirk was incredibly versatile. As long as she ate enough and understood the structure as well as materials of an object, she could create it directly from her body. Small tools and weapons could be made in seconds, while larger creations required a few more minutes.
If she continued training and gained real combat experience, she would become dangerous. Perhaps this was why Endeavor liked her (quirk) in the first place.
For someone on the opposite side of the heroes like him, that made her an overwhelming disadvantage.
And yet, despite wanting every strong and smart people by his side, he couldn’t just approach her about his cause. Not when she showed no interest in it.
(Because for now, she looked far too determined to become a hero).
Soon after thinking about it, Momo returned while carrying another rescue dummy she’d recovered from beneath a pile of broken rubble. Dust clung to her sleeves, but her expression remained focused despite the strain of continuously using her quirk.
“Here, I found another civilian,” she said, handing the dummy over to Shouto.
By now, Shouto was already carrying 2 more civilians himself.
Without wasting time, he stomped his foot against the ground. Ice exploded outward instantly, forming a narrow slide just wide enough for him to ride across the streets toward the rescue drop-off point. The frozen pathway curved smoothly between buildings, built for speed and stability rather than brute force or intimidation.
Shouto immediately stepped onto it, surfing across the ice while transporting the civilians toward safety and leaving Momo behind in the park area.
Meanwhile, Momo remained focused on the surveillance feed from the drones she’d created with her quirk. Several tiny screens extended from a device in her hand, each displaying different sections of the mini city.
“I found another one,” she reported through the comm device in his ear. “Inside an office building east of our previous location.”
Shouto gave a quiet hum of acknowledgment before instantly redirecting his ice toward the area she indicated.
Back at the park, Momo continued gathering every civilian she could locate into a single safe zone. With that, once enough had been secured, she and Shouto could transport multiple civilians at once using his ice slides instead of wasting time on individual trips.
When Shouto arrived at the office building Momo had pointed out, his eyes immediately swept over the structure.
The building was unstable. Large cracks ran across the walls while chunks of debris slowly fell from above. The entire structure leaned dangerously to one side.
It looked like the kind of place civilians would realistically become trapped in during an actual disaster.
Shouto moved instantly before the building could collapse completely while civilians (dummies) were still inside.
He slammed his foot against the ground, sending thick pillars of ice surging upward to reinforce the side of the building that was on the verge of caving in. The jagged ice spread beneath the damaged support beams, stabilizing the structure instead of simply encasing it.
Months ago, he probably would’ve frozen the entire building without hesitation. But Chuuya had told him to think more carefully about how he used his quirk, which was to use it efficiently instead of relying only on overwhelming force.
The old Shouto would’ve prioritized stopping the collapse immediately, even if it meant freezing civilians along with the structure itself. But the Shouto now understood the danger in that approach.
Freezing the entire building could trap injured civilians further, worsen unstable conditions, or accidentally harm the very people he was trying to save if they were caught somewhere unexpected inside.
So instead of overwhelming the problem with raw power, he chose to control it.
“WOAH! You’re cool, Todoroki!!”
A gust of wind suddenly rushed through the street behind him, followed immediately by the same booming voice from before the exam started.
Shouto immediately glanced back as Yoarashi Inasa flew beside him, carried by swirling currents of wind produced by his quirk.
His expression was as bright as before, and a huge grin stretched across his face despite the collapsing building in front of them.
“Yoarashi,” Shouto acknowledged flatly.
Inasa’s eyes lit up instantly. “You remembered my name?!” he exclaimed with excitement. “Haha! Nice!”
The wind around him swirled harder in response to his mood before he leaned forward curiously.
“So? Are there civilians in there too?”
Shouto followed the direction Inasa was pointing toward before lifting his gaze back to the damaged office building looming ahead of them.
“Most likely,” he answered. “We’re going inside to search for more civilians.”
“Ohh! Then I’m coming with you too!” Inasa declared immediately.
Without waiting for permission, he dropped down beside Shouto, landing lightly despite his boisterous energy.
Shouto didn’t bother refusing him though. Yoarashi was loud, reckless, and way too passionate about heroes for his liking, but he seemed useful and strong, as well as highly skilled at using his quirk despite being the same age as him.
He admitted that he was around the same level as him, though he was probably either slightly stronger or just slightly weaker than Shouto. He wondered who had been training him.
Also, having another person searching the building would also speed up the rescue operation and make the strategy he and Yaoyorozu had planned more efficient.
So, Shouto allowed the two of them to enter the building together.
As soon as they stepped inside, the atmosphere drastically changed.
The floors were shrouded in darkness, illuminated only by weak emergency lights flickering overhead. Dust floated through the air while the entire structure groaned around them every few seconds.
Somewhere above, unstable support beams creaked, followed by the crack of loose rubble occasionally breaking free and crashing onto the floor below.
“Woah…” Inasa muttered while squinting his eyes. “This place is seriously dark. I can barely see anything.”
Shouto silently agreed as he scanned the dark hallway ahead of them. Most of the windows had shattered completely or become buried beneath rubble or thick ice, leaving only dim sunlight able to filter inside.
The weak light almost didn’t reach beyond the edges of the room, forcing the center of the hallway to remain swallowed in shadow despite it still being midday outside.
Even with his eyesight, it was difficult to make out anything farther ahead.
“Oh, right!”
Inasa suddenly snapped his fingers loudly, the sound echoing through the hallway before he turned toward Shouto with realization on his face.
“You’ve got a fire quirk too, don’t you?”
Shouto stopped walking immediately and his body stiffened on instinct.
Inasa didn’t notice that, or he might simply misunderstand the reaction, because he continued speaking as casually as ever.
“Can’t you use it to light the place up for us?” he asked brightly. “It’d make searching way easier!”
To anyone else, it was a harmless and simple suggestion. But to Shouto, the moment the word ‘fire’ reached him, it felt like someone had violently dragged him backward into memories he wanted buried.
In his memories, there was heat, smoke, and pain…
And suddenly, the dark hallway no longer felt suffocating because of the collapsing building. Instead, it felt suffocating because his memories turned the supposedly cold air into something that reminded him of flames.
His chest tightened, and something invisible seemed to wrap around his throat, choking him from the inside as old memories clawed their way back to the surface.
But before the memories could completely tear apart his consciousness, he somehow managed to stop them from getting worse, pushing the details back into the corners of his mind.
He… somehow still felt conscious, yet the words leaving his mouth came automatically, uncontrollably. The anger buried deep inside him then bled clearly into his next words.
“No.” The answer came out almost immediately, making Inasa blink in confusion. “Huh?”
But at that moment, Shouto barely heard him anymore.
Suddenly, his vision blurred slightly, replaced by the image of a fist covered in fire crashing into his stomach hard enough to make him choke. Then, came a burning foot slamming into his back and forcing him against the floor.
The suffocating heat.
The smell of burnt skin.
Fire.
Fire.
Fire—
Shouto’s arms crossed over his chest as though shielding himself from blows that no longer existed. His breathing hitched painfully and his shoulders tightened for a moment.
Outwardly, he still looked composed. But inside, it felt like his chest had started collapsing inward.
Thankfully, at the moment, the darkness hid most of his face.
“… I can’t,” he muttered.
Even to his own ears, his voice sounded small. However, Inasa heard it anyway.
And when Shouto finally looked toward him, he saw an expression on Inasa’s face he hadn’t seen before. For the first time since they met, the brightness in Inasa’s expression dimmed.
It was obvious Inasa hadn’t noticed Shouto’s discomfort at all. Instead, he seemed more shocked by the cold disdain in Shouto’s tone than anything else, too focused on the words he’d said to completely pay attention to his face.
Moreover, Inasa’s eyes somehow only remained fixed on Shouto’s eyes, like they were the only thing he could see in the darkness around them.
“What do you mean, you can’t?!” Inasa demanded loudly. “That’s your quirk! And it’s Endeavor’s quirk too, right?! Everyone knows you can use it—“
“I CAN’T!”
The words exploded out of Shouto before he could stop them. It was sharp enough to echo harshly through the dark hallway.
And for a moment, even the unstable building seemed to fall silent.
Shouto glared at Inasa, years of buried anger began breaking the cold, unreadable mask he always put on his face.
Especially after hearing that name again… Endeavor.
Something twisted painfully in his chest. He hated it, and he hated how people looked at him and immediately saw Endeavor before they ever saw Todoroki Shouto.
It’d always been like that. Every compliment felt tainted the moment his father’s name entered the conversation. Every look of admiration carried the same thought, that he was of course talented because he was Endeavor’s son.
It felt as if none of his own effort mattered, and as if his existence itself had been reduced to nothing more than proof that Endeavor’s ‘masterpiece’ succeeded.
His fists clenched tightly at his sides.
The worst part was that hero society accepted it so naturally. No one questioned it and no one saw anything wrong with treating him like an extension of another person.
So far, only the Port Mafia had been different; Dazai, Chuuya, and the others… None of them had looked at him and seen Endeavor standing behind him. They never treated him like he belonged to someone else.
Instead, they looked at him like he was his own person, like he was allowed to exist separately from the man who created him.
That was why staying with them felt easier than standing here pretending he wanted to become some perfect hero for strangers who would never truly see him as anything other than Endeavor’s son.
“I won’t use my fire,” Shouto said again, quieter this time yet still firm. “Ever.”
The air between them instantly turned heavier. Cold was released unconsciously from Shouto’s body as thin frost spread across the floor beneath his feet.
The temperature around him dropped, almost like his quirk was reacting to the emotions he kept buried inside.
Inasa stared at him in disbelief, then frustration slowly overtook his expression again.
“But you can’t just reject part of yourself like that!” he argued loudly. “If you want to save people, then you use everything you’ve got! That’s what being a hero means!”
His voice was full of the same conviction Shouto had noticed since the moment they met.
“What happens if someone needs your fire someday?” Inasa continued. “A civilian! Someone trapped somewhere your ice can’t reach! Are you saying you’d just stand there and let them die?”
Shouto stared at him blankly. “Yes.” The answer came immediately in a cold and emotionless tone. “As I said before…” His voice lowered slightly, still quieter than Inasa’s but somehow more intense. “I’m not your kind of hero.”
He never wanted to become one in the first place.
“If some stranger needs my fire…” Shouto paused briefly, his eyes shadowed beneath his bangs. “Then I’ll leave them.”
The words made the loud Inasa looked stunned even for a moment.
Shouto closed his eyes briefly.
Every time he used that fire… It felt like Endeavor won.
The thought had rooted itself so deeply inside him that he could no longer separate the fire from the man who gave them to him.
But even as he stood there, another thought quietly slipped into his mind.
What if it wasn’t a stranger? What if it was Chuuya? Dazai? Someone from the Port Mafia? Would he really stand there and do nothing then?
A sweat formed against his skin despite the cold air surrounding him. The memories of fire returned again. They were hot and suffocating.
Then he remembered how there had only been one time he’d managed to use it without immediately thinking about Endeavor. It was an accident; a moment where instinct moved before fear could.
Still, whenever he thought about using it consciously. He always saw him, Endeavor towering over him.
Shouto’s chest tightened painfully.
Was this fear always going to control him? Would fire forever remain the chain Endeavor wrapped around his throat?
Lost in those thoughts, Shouto failed to notice the furious expression slowly overtaking Inasa’s face.
Without warning, he slammed his shoulder hard against Shouto’s as he pushed past him deeper into the building.
Shouto didn’t even react. His head lowered slightly, and his eyes were hidden beneath his bangs.
“I thought you were cool, Todoroki,” Inasa said bitterly, then he glanced back over his shoulder.
For the first time since they met, there was no warmth left in his loud voice.
“But those eyes you made just now…” His expression darkened.
“They looked exactly like Endeavor’s.”
And then, Inasa suddenly disappeared from his sight.
For a moment, the wind boy stood there glaring at him with frustration. Soon after, a gust of wind swept through the hallway as Inasa stormed deeper into the building without another word.
Shouto remained standing there for several seconds in silence as the cold air around him felt even heavier now.
Then, the comm device in his ear crackled to life.
“Todoroki-kun,” Momo’s voice called calmly, immediately pulling him back to reality. “I’ve finished gathering the rescue dummies in the park area. Have you found the civilians inside yet?”
The sound of her voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
Shouto quietly clenched his jaw, his nails digging slightly into his palm as he forced himself back under control. At least the topic of fire was gone now.
“No,” he answered after a moment, his voice returning to its usual calm tone. “It’s too dark inside the building.”
His eyes scanned the shadowed hallway once again. “Can you create a flashlight and come here while I continue searching? Leave the civilians you gathered there for now. Even if other examinees bring them to the drop-off point first, it’s fine. We’ve already secured the rescue itself.”
There was a brief pause before Momo responded. “Understood. I’ll head there immediately.”
Shouto turned the comm off again after that and continued walking deeper into the building alone.
Eventually, Momo arrived carrying 2 flashlights she’d created with her quirk, and with the added visibility, the search became much easier.
Together, the two of them managed to locate probably half of the trapped civilians scattered throughout the office floors.
Using a combination of Momo’s creations and Shouto’s ice, they carefully transported the rescue dummies through the damaged structure before eventually bringing them all toward the drop-off point.
Meanwhile, Shouto never saw Yoarashi again after their argument.
Shouto assumed that the other boy had probably found the remaining civilians elsewhere in the building already before he left.
——
The combination of Momo’s drones and their constant communication through the comms was way more effective than Shouto had expected. For the first 15 minutes of the exam, their strategy worked almost perfectly.
While the drones scanned different sectors of the mini city and relayed information back to Momo, the two of them focused entirely on rescue operations, moving from one area to another.
By the end of the scheduled 15 minutes, they’d already rescued 37 civilians.
Momo’s support had been very valuable throughout the operation, with the drones and the tools she continuously created on the spot. Even Shouto had to admit their teamwork had gone smoother than he initially expected.
However, once the first 15 minutes passed, he began noticing the announcements being made through the hidden speakers.
11 civilians had already been ‘killed’ by the villain.
The repeated announcements echoing through the city every time another civilian died had clearly begun frustrating the other candidates.
As Shouto moved through the streets with Momo, he could easily see irritated expressions and hear complaints from nearby candidates.
Each dead civilian meant fewer rescue points they could acquire. And worse, none of them seemed capable of catching the villain responsible for killing the civilians yet.
The only information about the villain they managed to gather mostly came from Iida Tenya.
Shouto and Momo encountered him near one of the intersections. When they asked, he explained his encounter with the villain with a displeased expression.
“The villain was extremely fast!” Iida declared loudly, chopping the air with robotic gestures as he spoke, “I only saw him for a moment. One second, he was standing behind that shaved-head examinee, and then the next instant, he had already crossed the distance and punched me directly in the stomach before I could properly react!”
The memory seemed to frustrate him further. “I was sent flying several meters backward,” he continued seriously. “And before I could recover, he disappeared again!”
Momo adjusted the comm near her ear thoughtfully while listening to his account. “Did you manage to see anything else about him?” she asked.
“Yes!” Iida answered immediately, sounding so serious as if he were formally reporting to a police investigation. “The villain was wearing completely black clothing that concealed most of his appearance. It made him difficult to identify. However, from what I observed, he seemed muscular and was most likely male.”
Shouto quietly processed the information.
That meant the villain was fast and strong, while also stealthy enough to avoid detection even from Momo’s drones. That just made the situation much more troublesome.
“It would be better to locate their position first before engaging,” Momo said thoughtfully beside him while glancing down at the footage streaming from several drones onto her tablet-like device. “But strangely enough… None of the drones have managed to capture them properly yet.”
Even as she said it, several surveillance feeds flickered across her screen, showing different parts of the city. But, as she said, there was no villain, only more civilians and candidates like them.
Shouto narrowed his eyes slightly. For someone that physically powerful to completely avoid detection for this long… either the villain was very fast, or very good at staying hidden.
“I could track their movements for a few seconds at certain moments,” Momo explained while analyzing the drone footage on her screen.
“But they disappear too quickly after that. I think the villain may have some kind of speed-based quirk… Or possibly a teleportation quirk that activates under specific conditions.”
Several drone feeds flickered across her monitor as she continued.
“However, I did notice something strange,” she added, her eyebrows furrowing slightly in concentration.
“Despite having closer routes available, they keep moving toward the same area every time he appears. They seem intentionally drawn in that direction instead of moving randomly through the city.”
Shouto narrowed his eyes thoughtfully.
“So there’s a pattern,” he muttered.
“Possibly,” Momo replied. “Besides—”
*WHOOSH*
A burst of wind suddenly exploded from somewhere near the nearby housing district. It was strong enough to shake dust and debris loose from the surrounding buildings.
“FOUND YOU!”
Inasa’s voice thundered across the streets, and Shouto and Momo instantly snapped toward the sound.
“Yaoyorozu,” Shouto called immediately.
“Right!”
Without hesitation, Momo grabbed onto his arm. Ice surged beneath Shouto’s feet a second later as he quickly created an ice path across the streets, carrying both of them toward the source of the wind.
The moment they arrived near the housing district, they saw Inasa hovering above the street as currents of wind spiraled around him. Rubble and debris swirled through the air while his eyes scanned the area below.
“I know you’re here!!” Inasa shouted again. “COME OUT!”
At first, Shouto couldn’t see anyone, but then he heard Momo speak.
“Over there!” Momo shouted while pointing toward a nearby alleyway.
The moment she spoke, Shouto’s gaze snapped toward the direction she indicated. A figure dressed entirely in black was sprinting toward the alley before darting deeper into the narrow passage.
Shouto reacted immediately. Ice exploded beneath his feet as he launched himself forward, surfing quickly into the alley to chase the villain.
But before he could close the distance, another gust blasted past him.
Inasa had already surged ahead, propelled by his own winds. He reached the alley entrance almost instantly before thrusting both arms forward.
“DON’T RUN AWAY!”
A burst of wind roared down the alleyway like a hurricane. It was enough to tear small chunks from the walls as it rushed toward the fleeing villain.
For a split second, it looked like the attack would connect, but just before the wind struck him, the villain vanished again.
Shouto’s eyes widened slightly until he suddenly heard a gasp from him.
“GAH!”
Inasa’s body jerked as a fist slammed into his side from behind. The impact sent him flying out of the alleyway and crashing into a nearby wall on the opposite side of the street, forcing him to recover before he could rejoin the fight.
‘This is our chance,’ Shouto thought.
“Yaoyorozu! Now!” Shouto called through the comm the moment Inasa was taken out of the fight.
“Yes! Freeze the left intersection. Now!”
As soon as Inasa crashed into the wall, Shouto immediately slammed ice across the alley entrance to block off the villain’s escape route before launching himself forward again on an ice path.
At the same time, Momo’s voice continued instructing him through the comm.
Since she’d already sent dozens of small flying drones throughout the city earlier, she could now track the villain’s movements from multiple angles at once and relay the information directly to Shouto in real time.
And because of that, they were able to control the battlefield instead of chasing blindly.
Shouto followed her directions immediately, creating walls of ice exactly where she instructed while continuing his pursuit through the streets. Jagged walls of ice erupted upward one after another, cutting off routes and narrowing the villain’s movements little by little.
Their goal was simple, which was to force the villain toward the center district of the city, the area farthest from every exit gate. Once trapped there, they could corner him completely.
Shouto had intentionally avoided wasting too much ice during the earlier rescue phase for this exact reason.
While continuously creating structures this large was exhausting, the training he had endured under both Endeavor and Chuuya had long since forced him to become accustomed to using his quirk under pressure until he was drained completely.
Meanwhile, Momo continued directing the operation with complete focus. At first, she’d doubted herself when Shouto asked to rely on her for this.
But now that they were actually executing the strategy, her hesitation gradually disappeared beneath her concentration.
“They’re changing direction again!” Momo warned.
Shouto instantly redirected his ice path without hesitation.
“Cut off the alley behind them!”
Another wall of ice appeared behind the fleeing villain just as they tried to turn back.
“Don’t freeze the southern route yet!” Momo continued quickly while watching the drone footage update in real time. “If we pressure them too early, they’ll notice the pattern!”
Shouto adjusted immediately.
“Based on his speed, they’ll reach the shopping district in 10 seconds.”
Her voice remained calm and focused despite how quickly the situation kept changing.
“Three-way intersection ahead! Block the east and west exits only!”
Ice surged from the streets ahead of the villain, sealing off two routes before they reached them and forcing them toward the center district exactly as planned.
For the first time since the chase had begun, the villain’s movements faltered slightly.
It was subtle, and was just a brief hesitation before changing direction again.
However, Shouto noticed it immediately.
“… He realized it,” he muttered as cold air whipped past him while he sped across the ice.
The villain had finally understood that they were being cornered.
“But he’s already inside the center area,” Momo replied through the comm. “We have him now.”
Shouto narrowed his eyes as he continued to speed up, his ice rapidly freezing across the streets beneath his feet.
He could see more jagged walls of ice already rising throughout the district, slowly turning the city into a frozen cage with fewer escape routes remaining.
However, all of a sudden, something unexpected happened.
The villain suddenly drove their fist straight through one of the ice walls.
*CRASH*
The barrier shattered apart, breaking into countless frozen fragments across the street. The force behind the punch caught Shouto off guard just enough that he failed to immediately create another wall behind it.
The villain burst through the destroyed opening without slowing down.
But fortunately, Momo was already waiting on the other side, fully prepared in case something like this happened.
The moment the wall shattered, she hurled a small object toward the ground. A smoke bomb exploded instantly, and thick smoke spread across the street, swallowing the area behind the broken ice wall before the villain could properly see ahead.
At the same time, Momo’s hands moved quickly across her exposed skin as large metal parts were already fully emerged from her body.
Within seconds, a cannon was created.
The cannon roared loudly as Momo launched a heavy projectile through the smoke toward the villain’s position.
But just before the shot hit, the villain vanished again. The projectile blasted through empty air before exploding against a nearby building.
“There!” Momo shouted immediately after spotting movement through one of her drone feeds as soon as she checked them once more.
Shouto nodded, and another ice wall rose behind Momo, sealing off the route the villain had attempted to use to circle around them.
Little by little, they continued forcing them deeper into the city. Every route they attempted to take toward that ‘one certain direction’ became blocked by Shouto’s ice.
With every blind spot monitored by Momo’s drones, each escape route gradually narrowed further, until finally the villain stepped into the center district.
“Now!” Momo shouted.
The instant the villain entered the open area, Shouto slammed his foot against the ground, and jagged walls of ice surrounded the entire district at once as they sealed every street, alleyway, and possible exit surrounding the center district within seconds.
The center district became completely enclosed inside a massive frozen cage.
Cold air swirled throughout the battlefield. At the center of it all stood Shouto, his heterochromatic eyes locked onto the black-clothed villain before him.
The man had nowhere left to run, and as long as they remained trapped inside the center district, they couldn’t escape through any of the gates positioned around the edges of the city.
Which meant there was only one thing left to do now. Stop him here, or defeat him before he escaped again.
The man stood still in the center of the frozen district, their gaze fixed entirely on Shouto. The two remained at a standstill for a brief moment as Shouto carefully observed the villain’s movements.
The man was watching him closely, most likely waiting for him to attack first. More specifically, they were probably waiting for another large-scale ice attack.
After everything Shouto had done throughout the chase, the villain had probably already concluded that his fighting style was overwhelming opponents from a distance with large amounts of ice.
Which was exactly why Shouto decided not to do that.
Instead, he remembered Chuuya’s training.
‘Don’t rely on your quirk alone. There’ll be moments when you can’t use it. So, train and use your body too.’ The memory surfaced clearly in his mind.
Then, the moment Shouto moved forward, the villain readied themselves, likely expecting another glacier to erupt between them.
But instead, Shouto rushed directly into close range with the help of his ice quirk, and the villain clearly hadn’t expected that.
A fist swung toward Shouto the instant he entered striking distance, but Shouto ducked low beneath it just in time, even though he still felt the nail graze his cheek and leave a thin streak of blood behind.
In one quick movement, Shouto slammed his shoulder hard into the villain’s chest. The impact threw the man off balance and forced a gasp out of them.
The moment the villain staggered, Shouto immediately followed up.
Ice propelled him forward again instantly. He twisted his body and drove his elbow into the villain’s jaw before slamming his hand downward. Ice then spread quickly across the ground and froze around the villain’s legs.
It was one of the close-combat techniques Chuuya had drilled into him, combining physical movement with quirk usage instead of treating them separately.
The man let out another gasp. However, they recovered quickly despite the attack and immediately punched straight through the ice again.
The frozen restraints shattered apart. A second later, the villain vanished once more.
Shouto clicked his tongue quietly. He was too physically strong to restrain completely.
But, that had never been the goal in the first place. Shouto only needed to keep him trapped here.
“Three seconds before they reach the right-side ice wall!” Momo warned through the comm.
Shouto immediately raised another wall of ice directly into the villain’s path, but the villain smashed through it again without slowing down.
But this time, Shouto was already waiting on the other side with his ice slide.
He shot forward at full speed. The moment the villain burst through the wall, Shouto slammed directly into them with both his momentum and ice behind the attack.
The tackle sent both of them skidding across the frozen ground before Shouto forcefully drove the villain away from the edge of the district.
Ice spread beneath them again the moment they hit the ground. He acted quickly by freezing around the villain’s arms and wrists to pin them down.
Shouto exhaled tiredly through the cold air, frost drifting from his lips as exhaustion slowly began creeping into his body.
“Todoroki-kun!” Momo suddenly shouted urgently again through the comm.
Shouto looked up slightly as he focused on her voice.
“I think he’s about to—”
Shouto suddenly noticed the villain stop moving completely beneath the ice.
And instantly, Shouto understood what was about to happen.
The villain disappeared again.
For a brief moment, confusion and surprise filled him as cold wind drifted through the suddenly empty street.
“… What?”
In that brief moment of confusion after the villain vanished, Shouto quickly pushed himself back to his feet.
His eyes scanned the streets once more, searching for any sign of movement, but there was nothing at all.
Then, hurried footsteps echoed nearby.
“Todoroki-kun!”
Momo ran toward him, slightly out of breath as she held up a small monitor connected to several of her drones. Her expression was focused, but there was concern in her eyes.
“With him disappearing again, we’ll need to relocate him,” she said quickly. “But before that, there’s something strange I noticed that I wanted to tell you earlier.”
She turned the screen toward him. Several drone feeds were visible across the monitor, but one section of the city remained completely dark.
“The signals from multiple drones keep cutting out in a certain area,” Momo explained while adjusting the screen. “And I realized it’s the same direction the villain kept trying to move toward earlier.”
Shouto frowned. “So there’s something there,” he muttered.
“Possibly,” Momo nodded. “I think we need to investigate bef—”
“I think I know where they’re heading!”
Both Shouto and Momo immediately looked upward toward the sudden voice.
The moment their eyes landed on it though, they both froze.
Because floating above them was… a detached arm and a piece of mouth.
Momo stiffened for a second, nearly stepping back in surprise and horror (because honestly, who wouldn’t after seeing detached body parts floating around like that?) before realizing what she was actually looking at.
‘This must be one of the examinee’s quirk. How unusual,’ Shouto concluded calmly.
The detached mouth simply grinned at their reaction while the floating arm waved energetically.
After hearing her voice again, Shouto finally recognized it too. He remembered now, it belonged to the green-haired girl from the written exam earlier.
He vaguely remembered her name because she’d spoken with Inasa earlier in the classroom. And with how loud Inasa was, everyone had heard it when he called her.
Her name was Tokage Setsuna.
Momo coughed awkwardly after realizing the same thing as Shouto.
“And where exactly is he heading?” Momo began to ask again.
The floating arm spun around before pointing toward the far side of the district.
“One of my legs got blown upward when I passed near the edge of a collapsed parking structure,” Setsuna explained casually. “There was this weird air pressure coming from underground, so I got curious.”
Another detached eye floated over beside them. “So I sent my eye down through a narrow gap in the rubble,” she continued. “And there’s definitely space underneath. I saw emergency lights flickering down there too. It looked way too organized to just be debris.”
Shouto immediately understood. “A hidden area,” he stated.
“Exactly!” Setsuna replied. “The entrance is big enough to be part of the exam setup too. Oh, and I already told that loud wind guy first before you.”
“Yoarashi-kun…” Momo muttered.
Setsuna’s detached mouth grinned wider.
“Yeah. Wind-boy zoomed off immediately after hearing it. He’s so fast.”
Momo crossed her arms thoughtfully as she processed the information.
“So there’s a fourth exit gate…” she murmured. “One that was never mentioned during the briefing.”
It instantly explained the villain’s strange movements. He’d been trying to reach that hidden underground route from the very beginning.
Shouto and Setsuna exchanged a brief look before arriving at the same conclusion.
“Lead the way,” Shouto said.
Setsuna grinned again.
“Right this way!”
And without wasting another second, the three of them immediately sprinted forward with Setsuna’s detached body parts leading the way.
——
A burst of wind tore through the parking area as Inasa dropped from the sky, landing directly between the villain and the hidden underground entrance.
The concrete beneath his feet cracked on impact while air still spiraled around his body.
“HEY!” Inasa shouted loudly, flashing his usual bright grin. “You’re not getting past here that easily!”
The villain didn’t respond, because the moment Inasa’s feet touched the ground, the man charged straight toward him without hesitation.
Inasa’s instincts immediately warned him. He kicked off the ground just before the punch could land. Wind blasted beneath him, launching him upward as the villain’s fist tore through the space where his stomach had been a split second earlier.
“WHOA!”
The force behind the swing made the air shake slightly. But instead of panicking, Inasa’s grin widened.
“I’m not getting caught off guard that easily this time!”
Still midair, he swung his arm downward and a blast of wind detonated from above.
The attack slammed directly into the villain and blasted them backward several meters across the parking structure. Broken concrete and debris scattered everywhere from the impact, and parts of the collapsed rubble around the hidden underground gate were blown apart, exposing the large metal entrance beneath.
But despite taking the attack directly, the villain almost didn’t seem affected.
Inasa’s grin faltered slightly when the man simply steadied himself again.
Then, they vanished.
Inasa had expected that this time, so he immediately spun around midair.
Another instinct told him about a split second before the villain suddenly appeared.
But he wasn’t behind him this time, but directly in front of his face.
A fist shot toward him, and Inasa twisted to the side just in time in surprise. The punch narrowly missed his eye by centimeters before cutting through the air where his face had been.
“That was close again!! And really dangerous!”
Using the opening, Inasa counterattacked immediately. Wind spiraled around his arm before being released directly toward the villain.
The blast forced the man backward across the ground again, his shoes grinding harshly against the concrete as debris flew everywhere.
But even without disappearing this time, the villain still somehow held his ground against the pressure of the wind, only sliding back several meters instead of being blown away completely.
“Tough too?!” Inasa laughed breathlessly, excitement flashing across his face again despite the tension. “This exam is AMAZING!”
“Todoroki-kun!” Momo’s voice crackled through the comms the moment the three of them finally reached the parking structure and saw the fight below. “Don’t let him reach the entrance!”
“I know.”
Ice spread across the parking area instantly. It enveloped the exposed underground gate, closing the entrance within seconds as freezing air burst through the structure.
At the same time, Shouto shot forward across an ice path at high speed, his eyes locked onto the black-clothed villain.
The moment he closed the distance, Shouto twisted his body and swung his leg, using one of the close-range movements Chuuya had taught him (because Chuuya loved using kicks in combat). Ice accompanied the strike and reinforced the impact as he aimed directly for the villain’s side.
But at that exact same moment, Inasa threw both arms upward.
A roaring cyclone appeared and crashed into the villain before Shouto’s kick could land, blasting the man backward toward the center of the area again.
Shouto’s attack hit the empty air. His expression then darkened immediately as he skidded to a stop on the ice.
“Why would you do that?” he asked irritably, glaring upward at Inasa.
“I was already using my cyclone first!” Inasa shouted back with the same irritated expression while hovering above the battlefield. “How was I supposed to know you were charging in to kick him?!”
Wind whipped around him as he pointed accusingly at Shouto. “And besides, you’ve got both ice and ‘fire,’ don’t you?! Why don’t you just blast him from far away instead?!”
Shouto’s eyes narrowed instantly at the mention of fire again. But unlike earlier, the danger of the situation let him force the thoughts aside before they could fully surface.
“I can’t just recklessly spam large attacks from afar every time. It drains my stamina too quickly!” he snapped back coldly. “And your wind destroys my ice structures whenever you interfere!”
“Then tell me first!”
“How am I supposed to explain things in the middle of a fight?!”
As the two argued, the villain suddenly disappeared again.
The moment Shouto noticed, he immediately clicked his tongue in irritation.
Then, the sound of ice shattering echoed near the fourth hidden gate.
Everyone snapped toward the entrance just in time to see broken chunks of Shouto’s ice laid on the ground. The underground gate itself hadn’t been opened, but the ice beneath it had been shattered apart, as though the villain had used that exact spot to teleport through quickly.
Still, everyone immediately reached the same conclusion.
“He’s inside the tunnel!” Setsuna’s detached mouth shouted while floating nearby.
Shouto quickly melted the ice blocking the entrance before they quickly opened the door. Several of Setsuna’s detached arms rushed into the tunnel, attempting to intercept the villain while one of her detached eyes flew deeper underground to track his position.
A few seconds later, her voice echoed back through the tunnel.
“About 500 meters ahead!” Setsuna warned urgently. “And there are only 5 minutes left before time’s up.”
Shouto and Inasa rushed into the tunnel immediately, with Momo following closely behind them. The underground passage was way narrower than the city above. The dim emergency lights flickered overhead while the sound of footsteps and rushing wind echoed through the cramped corridor.
Ahead of them, the villain continued sprinting toward the exit without slowing down.
As expected, Setsuna couldn’t completely stop him even while attacking. Detached pieces of her body flew through the tunnel, slamming into the villain from different angles like thrown rocks or balls, but the man pushed his way through them or phased past before they could properly hit him.
“Tch. He’s still going!” Setsuna’s detached mouth complained while hovering near the ceiling.
The tunnel was too narrow for Shouto to use large-scale ice attacks recklessly. If he froze the entire corridor, he could block his own allies too.
So instead, he focused on creating precise ice walls ahead of the villain whenever possible, forcing him to waste time breaking through them.
Beside him, Inasa frowned as well.
“My wind’s hard to use in here!” he shouted while flying low through the tunnel. “If I blast too hard, I’ll just send him closer to the exit instead!”
Instead of unleashing hurricanes like before, Inasa could only compress his wind into controlled bursts, firing gusts from the opposite direction to push against the villain’s momentum and slow him down little by little.
That meant, the only one who could effectively face the villain here was—
“Yaoyorozu!” Shouto called.
Before he could even say anything else, Yaoyorozu was already moving. While running through the tunnel, Momo created several small devices from her body and hurled them toward the fleeing villain.
The first device struck the wall beside him and burst open instantly. Thick capture foam exploded outward, coating the corridor and wrapping tightly around the villain’s legs. The adhesive substance clung heavily to both the ground and the walls, already slowing his movements.
Right after that, Momo threw another object; a smoke bomb.
The tunnel was engulfed in a thick smoke a second later, swallowing the corridor and making the path ahead almost impossible to see.
That opening was enough for Shouto to immediately slam his hand downward.
Ice spread quickly across the foam, freezing it solid in mere seconds and turning the sticky restraint into hardened frozen bindings around the villain’s legs.
The man staggered this time as cracks formed while he struggled to break free.
For the first time since the chase began, the villain’s movements slowed.
“Yoarashi! Use your wind with the smoke!” Shouto shouted as he looked directly at him, determination clear in his eyes.
Something in Shouto’s expression caught Inasa completely off guard. He’d never expected to see that kind of passion from the Number 2 Hero’s son, especially not from someone who looked at him with such a cold stare.
Back in the office building, those same eyes had glared at him with a coldness that reminded him clearly of Endeavor.
But now, they looked completely different.
There was no hatred or bitterness in them anymore. There was only focus and conviction.
And strangely enough…
Passion in the middle of battle.
Before Inasa could fully process that feeling, the villain suddenly burst through the frozen capture foam. The adhesive restraints and ice didn’t even shatter, almost as if the villain had simply phased through them before lunging straight toward Inasa.
The villain’s hand shot toward him, and even Inasa looked stunned by how fast everything happened.
However, ice instantly froze around the villain’s arm, stopping the attack just centimeters away from Inasa before it could connect.
Cold air swept across Inasa’s face, and he unintentionally held his own breath.
Shouto had protected him without hesitation.
For a moment, Inasa could only stare at him again.
Then slowly… A huge grin spread across his face.
“ALRIGHT!”
Wind burst through the tunnel once more in response to his renewed energy. This time, however, Inasa controlled it carefully instead of unleashing it wildly.
The currents caught the thick smoke from Momo’s bomb and sent it spiraling directly around the villain, turning the tunnel into a storm of smoke and air.
The villain’s visibility immediately worsened.
At the same time, Inasa made sure the wind avoided his allies instead of toward them, keeping Shouto and the others as unaffected as possible.
After all, none of them fully understood the conditions behind the villain’s teleportation yet. If visibility or positioning had any role in activating it, then obscuring his surroundings was their best option for now.
“LET’S SEE YOU ESCAPE NOW!”
Inasa shot past the villain in a burst of wind and landed behind him, cutting off the path toward the exit while continuing to manipulate the smoke-filled currents around the tunnel.
Meanwhile, Shouto slid low across the ice. He rushed past Inasa and headed straight toward the large exit door at the end of the tunnel.
Behind him, Setsuna’s detached mouth shouted while keeping track of the remaining time.
“Three!”
Shouto slammed his hand against the heavy metal door.
“Two!”
Ice formed across the surface, freezing the entire exit shut before the villain could reach it.
“One!”
Thick layer of jagged ice spread through the metal and sealed the door completely.
“TIME’S UP!!!”
The announcement thundered through the entire tunnel at the exact same moment Present Mic’s voice and Setsuna’s shout echoed together.
For a second, silence filled the underground tunnel.
Then, Present Mic’s excited voice blasted through the speakers.
“HEROES WIN!!!”
——
There were cheers from the candidates (except for Shouto) who’d managed to keep up with the villain until the end.
On the other hand, the remaining examinees could only glare at them in annoyance, grumbling under their breath about how they ‘worked together among themselves’ without ever including anyone else.
… As if Shouto hadn’t tried to team up with them from the very beginning.
“Man! That was the most intense exam I’ve ever had! That was so fun!” Inasa shouted with a wide grin.
“Yeah. I didn’t expect the recommendation exam to be this intense either. But that was a nice first experience,” Setsuna added with a grin before turning toward Momo and Shouto, whose reactions were more subdued but also clearly satisfied.
“And I didn’t expect there to only be one villain. Honestly, that one was already way too strong. I really hope there weren’t more of them. And that whole secret fourth gate thing? No one saw that coming!” Setsuna went on, still excitedly talking about what had happened during the exam.
At the mention of that, Iida’s voice could be heard protesting to the teachers in the distance. “This is unacceptable! We were not properly informed of all conditions!”
The group collectively ignored him and continued their conversation.
“I guess there were hidden mechanics in this exam,” Momo said thoughtfully. “I heard from a relative who took the general hero entrance exam at UA last year even though he didn’t pass, that it wasn’t nearly this intense. Perhaps it’s because we’re recommendation students.”
Shouto stayed silent, his eyes fixed on the figure who’d just moments ago been acting as the villain.
The tension from before was gone, replaced with something almost… bright. The man didn’t feel hostile at all. In fact, he looked strangely cheerful.
The guy stepped closer, then casually pulled down the cloth covering their face, revealing a wide, confident grin.
“You guys are seriously amazing!” he said, his voice full of energy. “For candidates who aren’t officially hero students yet, you were already thinking and fighting like heroes in training. That was awesome, really, seriously awesome!”
He looked about their age, maybe slightly older, with blonde hair and eyes that seemed to shine with excitement.
There wasn’t even a hint of intimidation in him now, but Shouto didn’t forget how strong he’d been.
“My name is Togata Mirio,” he announced, his chest slightly puffed. “If you get into UA, I’ll be your senior! I volunteered for this exam because I wanted to see what kind of future heroes are coming in. And wow, I’m really glad I did. You all showed real potential!”
‘Togata Mirio…’ Shouto thought quietly, studying him.
His muscular build made it obvious he wasn’t ordinary. From their fight, Shouto could tell that he was strong enough, and that he’d definitely been holding back the entire time.
‘I can’t underestimate anyone from the hero side… even students like him.’
“You were incredible too, senpai!” Inasa replied immediately, his eyes sparkling as he clenched his own fist to show his determination in front of the senior. “If I get into UA, I’m gonna catch up to you for sure!”
Mirio’s grin somehow got even bigger, like he was genuinely thrilled to hear that.
“Yes. That’s what I wanna hear,” he laughed. “That kind of spirit is exactly what makes a hero!”
“Togata-senpai,” Shouto spoke up after a moment. “What exactly is your quirk? I’m starting to think… It isn’t speed or teleportation.”
Mirio blinked, then broke into a grin like he’d been waiting for that question.
“Nice catch, Todoroki-kun. You’re definitely the toughest one out there. That was the hardest match I’ve had in this exam,” he said, gesturing toward him with an impressed laugh. “And yeah, you’re right. It’s not speed or teleportation at all.”
He tapped his chest casually. “My quirk is called ‘Permeation’.”
At that, his body relaxed slightly, as if explaining it was second nature.
“I can make my body pass through anything, like walls, ground, attacks, everything. But when I do, I lose all physical interaction. I can’t breathe normally, I can’t see clearly, and my senses get messed up because even light and sound pass through me weirdly.”
He scratched the back of his head, still smiling.
“And the tricky part is momentum. If I deactivate it while I’m inside something, I get forcefully ejected, like being shot out in whatever direction I was moving.”
Shouto nodded quietly, absorbing the information. Quirks being explained so openly was common in this society, so it was useful to take advantage of that. He’d have to report this later.
“At first glance, it sounds like a weak quirk,” Setsuna commented, tilting her head. “And it’s so hard to train the timing and control, right?”
“Exactly!” Mirio said immediately, his grin widening. “With help and guidance from my mentor, I trained hard to make it work. My body, my timing, my instincts, and everything. A quirk alone won’t save people if you can’t use it properly.”
He pointed at them again with bright eyes. “You guys are strong too. If you keep training, you’ll get even better, soon-to-be kouhais!”
Shouto narrowed his eyes slightly at his words. ‘He understands both quirk application and physical combat… that combination is dangerous. He isn’t just strong. Someone like that will be difficult to predict in a real fight.’
After Mirio finished speaking, a small voice interrupted from the side.
“M-Mirio… Are you done?”
A quieter boy with dark blue hair stood nearby, looking pale and slightly embarrassed.
“I told you to hold back… They’re not even first years yet, and I saw you punching them that hard…” he muttered, wincing at the memory.
When he noticed the others looking at him curiously, he quickly tensed up and averted his gaze, clearly wanting to disappear on the spot. “I wanna go home…”
Mirio laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. “Ah, I might still be bad at pulling my punches,” he admitted. “But I did hold back. I didn’t even use Permeation properly most of the time. If I had, I would’ve been at the exit gate in like 5 minutes!”
Then, he turned back to the four and waved. “Well, anyway! My friend’s here, so I’ve gotta go. See you at UA!”
And just like that, he jogged off with his friend, away from the mini city and the practical exam.
(A short distance away from the group, out of their earshot, Mirio jogged lightly beside his friend with an easy grin still on his face.
“Todoroki-kun and Yoarashi-kun are strong for candidates who haven’t had proper hero training yet!” Mirio said brightly, his hands behind his head. “They’re definitely getting in. And Yaoyorozu-san too, she’s super sharp! And Tokage-san’s quirk is really unique.”
Tamaki flinched slightly at the praise, his shoulders tense as usual. “They’re really impressive for examinees…” he mumbled. “Teenagers these days are kind of scary…”
He glanced sideways at Mirio, his voice dropping even lower. “And you… you were holding back a lot. I saw it. You pulled your punches and didn’t fully use Permeation most of the time.”
Tamaki swallowed, looking even more stressed as he continued. “Even that moment after they argued… You broke the ice on purpose, didn’t you? Just enough so they could focus on the exam again. You could’ve just phased to the exit whenever you wanted, but you didn’t… You intentionally helped them a lot during this exam.”
Mirio laughed, scratching the back of his head. “Ahh, you noticed that?”
“Of course I did…” Tamaki muttered. “It’s you.”
Mirio’s grin softened, but it didn’t fade. “I just wanted them to pass, you know? But not just pass the exam, I wanted them to actually feel what it’s like to work together under pressure. I was also asked to do that by the principal when I offered to act as the villain.”
Then, his eyes brightened again. “I really wanted them to pass though, especially Todoroki Shouto. He’s Endeavor’s son, right? So, I figured he’s had a lot of formal training already.”
”But I wonder…” Mirio began to wonder, “Sometimes his movement didn’t feel like Endeavor’s style at all.”
He tilted his head thoughtfully. “It felt more like someone else taught him close combat. Endeavor doesn’t really move like that. So, I’m curious… Who trained him?”
Tamaki sighed softly. “You’re thinking about that already…”
Mirio just laughed again, already full of energy. “He’s interesting! All of them are. I think they’re going to be really strong heroes someday!”
Tamaki didn’t answer right away, only quietly following as Mirio kept walking ahead, already looking excited for the future heroes in training).
“Hey, Todoroki!”
Shouto was slightly startled by the sudden shout, but turned toward Inasa anyway.
The other boy looked unusually tense, then without warning, he bowed so deeply he slammed his head into the ground.
“I’M VERY SORRY!”
Even after seeing it twice, Shouto still couldn’t get used to it. “… For what?”
“For everything I said earlier!” Inasa blurted, still bowed. “I might’ve gone too far and made you angry! I still don’t understand why you refuse to use your fire quiek, but after I saw you later… Your determination and passion, and how you protected me when we collaborated together… I realized you’re actually a really good person!”
He finally lifted his head, his eyes blazing with sincerity. “You’re way better than Endeavor! And I’d still like to be friends with you!”
“Uh… I don’t need—”
“Oi Yoarashi! There’s blood on your forehead!” Setsuna suddenly shouted from nearby.
“Oh! I’m fine, Tokage! It’s just—”
“Go see Recovery Girl over there! That’s not ‘fine’!” she said back immediately.
Before Inasa could protest further, Setsuna was already dragging him off, still lecturing him as they went.
“… I really am fine!” his voice faded down the hall.
Just like that, Shouto was left standing there with Momo beside him. He watched them leave in silence.
‘I didn’t protect him because I care about him…’ Shouto thought quietly. ‘I just thought that if he stays like this, he’ll become a problem at school. And someone like him will definitely keep bothering me if he gets in.’
After the earlier commotion settled, Shouto remembered the presence beside him again.
“Todoroki-kun…”
He turned his head slightly. Momo stood there with a small, polite smile. It was softer than before the exam, definitely less tense and more certain.
Her posture was composed, but there was something in her expression that felt brighter, like she’d stepped over a line she’d been unsure about before.
“Thank you for teaming up with me,” she said politely. “I’m really glad it went well. If I had done everything alone, I think I would’ve kept doubting whether I could cooperate with others in this exam.”
She hesitated, then added more honestly, “This was my first time in something this large-scale… working with other hero candidate students like this. I didn’t think I would be able to come up with strategies like that. So… it was a very valuable experience.”
Her hands tightened slightly in front of her before she relaxed them again.
“If we’re both accepted,” she said, looking at him properly now, “I would like to work with you again.”
Shouto looked at her for a moment before answering, his tone serious.
“I’m convinced we’ll both be accepted. You’re intelligent, and we performed well in the practical exam. But, you don’t need to thank me. You were the one who prioritized checking me first, and that’s what made cooperation possible. Unlike the other candidates, you weren’t focused only on yourself.”
His gaze lingered on her briefly before he spoke again, quieter but more blunt.
“Yaoyorozu. I want to ask you something.”
Momo straightened slightly. “Yes?”
“Why do you want to become a hero?”
The question made her blink in surprise, but then she lowered her gaze slightly, thinking.
When she answered, her voice was calm and assured. “I was born into privilege,” Momo admitted. “I’ve had access to education, safety, and resources that many people never receive.”
She looked back up at him. “And because of that, I realized something early. If I ignore the people who don’t have those things… then everything I was given loses its meaning.”
“My quirk allows me to create things that can protect, rescue, and support others. If I only used it for myself, then I would be wasting what I was born with. I would be no different from someone hoarding something precious while others are in need.”
A small breath left her. “Heroes aren’t perfect,” she continued. “But they choose to stand between danger and people who can’t protect themselves anyway. That’s the kind of person I decided to become a long time ago.”
A small, sincere smile returned. “So, no matter what anyone says, including my parents, I won’t turn away from that path.”
Then, she looked at him more gently. “What about you, Todoroki-kun? What’s your reason for becoming a hero?”
Shouto went quiet. And for a moment, he didn’t respond at all.
Her words lingered in his mind. They were clear, certain, and unhesitating, as if she’d already decided who she was long before stepping into this exam.
When he finally spoke, his voice was emptier than hers.
“… I don’t know.”
There was a brief pause between them again.
Because his answer would always be empty and blank, because there was really no desire in his heart to be a hero, especially when the heroes he watched every day were heroes that had broken his heart into pieces.
He looked away slightly after that, as if afraid Momo would see through him, and that he was the outlier among these hero hopefuls.
For once, Momo didn’t immediately respond. She only nodded once softly.
“I see,” she said, as if she wasn’t disappointed in his vague answer.
Something between pity and understanding mixed into her tone, as if she knew more than she said. “Then perhaps you’ll find it later.”
Shouto felt Momo’s gaze linger on him a little longer than before. It wasn’t sharp or judgmental, but thoughtful and almost careful, like she was choosing her next words without wanting to step on something fragile.
He didn’t need to look directly to understand what she might be thinking.
She might be… pitying him.
That was probably it. She was one of the few here who knew something about Endeavor. She might not understand everything, but she knew enough to sense there was tension between them.
She had even interacted with Endeavor directly before, and there were those discussions about arranged engagements from their high-status families. They were something neither of them seemed to agree with.
And yet… She couldn’t do anything about it. Just like him.
(Though, at least she still had her dream).
Two people trapped in cages built by families that decided too much of their lives for them.
Shouto stared forward as the announcement echoed through the structure, but his thoughts stayed elsewhere.
‘Yaoyorozu…’
She was undeniably capable, intelligent, and adaptable. She didn’t rely on brute force alone. She understood how to use her quirk responsibly and strategically. That kind of conviction would be admirable without question.
‘She’s proper hero material… like All Might,’ he thought.
She wasn’t loud and attention-seeking, and she didn’t want recognition.
She was the kind of person who simply saved people because it was the right thing to do.
But that was exactly why something about it felt distant to him.
‘Someone like her… would stand on the hero side without hesitation.’
His gaze lowered slightly.
‘And I…’
The thought didn’t even finish.
People like her didn’t waver. They didn’t question whether heroes were right or wrong. They didn’t grow up watching heroes and wondering what they were even supposed to become.
‘She doesn’t belong anywhere like the Port Mafia… Our perspectives are too different. Conviction like that doesn’t just change easily. Just like Yoarashi’s passion to become a hero…’
His mind drifted further. ‘In the future, we’ll be enemies. Just like her… and the others from UA later. Yoarashi, Tokage… even the teachers.’
Momo shifted slightly beside him, as if sensing the change in his silence. But she didn’t interrupt. She simply waited quietly and being respectful.
Then, the loudspeaker crackled to life again.
“Listen up, hero candidates!” Present Mic’s voice boomed through the speakers. “The practical exam is officially over! You’ve got 15 minutes to chill! Change back into your normal clothes and get your heads ready, because next up is the final session! THE INTERVIEW SESSION!”
——
In the surveillance room, a white rat sat comfortably in his chair, calmly sipping tea as dozens of CCTV feeds displayed the recommendation exam’s practical session.
Principal Nedzu’s eyes moved from screen to screen with quiet focus. When the footage showed the 4 candidates who’d cornered the villain and discovered the hidden fourth gate, he paused slightly.
That was… very unexpected.
Togata Mirio was meant to be the unpredictable variable of the exam. It was a test of adaptability under pressure.
He’d expected the candidates to fail to locate him in time, to fail to prevent him from reaching the exit and therefore only earn rescue and teamwork points instead of villain points, or to successfully capture him before he reached the gate.
In his mind, no one was supposed to fully solve the situation the way they had.
Yet, here they were.
Nezu’s gaze lingered as he replayed their movements and plans in his mind.
‘How fascinating.’
He took another slow sip of tea.
Even Nezu had to admit it. This was the most engaging recommendation exam he’d seen in years. It made him consider revising the standard obstacle race they usually used.
Though the race’d been designed for more safety, perhaps it’d become too predictable, especially when these candidates had already experienced private training environments.
His attention drifted to the pair who’d coordinated early on. They immediately recognized the importance of teamwork and didn’t hesitate to share information. They didn’t compete for control and adapted to their roles.
Nedzu was quite satisfied with that aspect of the exam.
He’d intentionally made it more difficult than usual, and one of the reasons was influenced by… Soukoku.
He had a feeling UA would soon become involved in Soukoku’s plans, and therefore he needed to prepare the students accordingly.
Both Momo and Shouto seemed more perceptive than their peers, though still not quite at Nezu’s level, of course.
After all, he had yet to meet someone he considered a true equal in intelligence.
His expression softened into something approving as he thought of the 4 recommendation candidates. He just hoped those in the general hero entrance exam would be the same this year.
His eyes shifted to another monitor showing a red-and-white-haired boy, then toward a staff member standing nearby.
“The interview session will begin soon,” Nezu said, carefully placing his teacup down. “You are permitted to ask about ‘that incident’ during the interview. But, this is not an interrogation. He is only a victim in that kidnapping scenario. Still, you and Detective Tsukauchi were correct to be cautious. His account may help us understand what we are dealing with, if his suspicions are accurate.”
Nedzu’s ears tilted slightly. “Soukoku remains unknown. And unknowns… tend to grow in ways we do not expect.”
He tapped a paw lightly against the armrest. “And I have a feeling they will become a much larger variable in the future than anyone is prepared for. One that could disrupt both hero society and the peace we have built for civilians.”
The staff member let out a quiet sigh. “… Got it. This case is important… and I don’t want to push him too hard if it drags up bad memories, but we don’t really have a choice. He might be our only lead.”
He paused, then rubbed the back of his neck, already looking tired. “I’ll handle the questions.”
“Good luck,” Nezu replied with a small, almost cheerful smile as the door closed behind them.
The room fell silent once more.
Nezu turned back to the monitors, tea still in his hand.
On the screens, the next stage of the exam was already beginning to happen.
And in his mind, he could only conclude one thing.
The year ahead would likely be far more chaotic than anyone expected, simply because of a new organization that had appeared half a year ago. It was already beginning to shift the balance of everything they all thought was stable.