Chapter 44 - Meeting

After school ended, the people who heard what Kendo said talked to the rest of the class and informed them that the practical exam would be similar to the entrance exam, to which many people were relieved.

"I won't need to hold back against robots!" Kaminari cheered.

"Shut up!" Katsuki said, "If you need to control your quirk, then just do so." Muttering the last part. He then turned to Izuku and shouted out, "Deku!!"

The class turned silent and focused on the two, with Katsuki saying, "I don't know or care if you've figured out how to use your quirk a little or what, but you seriously keep rubbing me the wrong way." Scenes of Izuku copying his moves flashed through his mind.

Hiroto seeing this confrontation merely looked uninterested, resulting in Katsuki turning and pointing to him, "Just you wait, you uninterested bastard! One day, I'll beat you and have you fall behind me as I take 1st place!"

Hiroto turned to Katsuki and the class held their breath, waiting to see what he would say. Hiroto then reached for his ears and took out his earphones, saying, "Huh? Did you say something? Why is everyone staring at me? This is making me feel awkward."

Practically the whole class facepalmed, thinking to themself that he can't be serious. Katsuki balled his fists but instead of saying anything further, he turned to Todoroki and said, "You wait your turn as well, Half and half bastard!" He then stormed out of the room.

"Well, guess he's having one of his episodes again," Eijiro said, rubbing the back of his head.

"How come he's so worked up today?" Momo said as she approached Hiroto.

Hiroto shrugged and said, "Who knows, it'll probably blow over by next week anyway."

Momo nodded then smiled and said, "I can't wait to see you guys at my house this weekend."

Mina skipped over and said, "Yeah yeah, it's going to be so much fun!"

"We're going to study, not have fun," Jiro said, slinging her bag behind her shoulder.

Sero came over and said, "Do we have to wear anything fancy? Since, you know…"

Momo shook her head and said, "No no, just wear your casual clothes since we'll be studying for a while."

"What time should we be there?" Kaminari asked her.

"I guess after lunch would be fine," Momo answered, turning to leave with excitement still in her eyes and she started to murmur to herself about what she wanted to do for the study group.

Hiroto then thought to himself, 'She's rich and lives in a mansion from what I can remember. I wonder if her family has those big private libraries like other rich families I've seen in movies and shows. Just imagine if all those were replaced by manga collections…'

--------------------

As the week flew by the weekend came and the group of 6 were gathered outside of a wide gate that led into a large estate. From the bottom of the path, the group still couldn't see Momo's house yet, as all they could see were trees and a road that bent to the right.

The people currently gathered were Hiroto, Jiro, Mina, Kaminari, Sero, and Ojiro, with the 5 of them, except for Hiroto, having their mouths left wide open in awe.

"I knew she was rich, but I didn't think she was this rich…" Kaminari muttered.

Hiroto ignored the group and walked over to the intercom, pressing it as a bell sound played out. Immediately it was picked up, with an excited Momo exclaiming, "Everyone, I have been waiting for you! Please, come in."

The gate then slowly swung open as a black limo came down and parked in front of the group, its doors opening automatically. The windows were too heavily tinted to see the inside, so the driver's face was also obscured to them.

As the others were still in awe, Hiroto walked forward and said, "I also want a private driver." getting into the backseat, the other's following shortly after.

After a short drive up, the group came in front of a large mansion with a fountain in front of it. The car drove around the fountain and pulled up to the entrance, with the group getting out.

From the mansion doors, Momo burst the doors open, appearing in a red polo shirt and grey shorts with a bright and bubbly expression, saying, "Welcome!!"

The group all felt fuzzy seeing Momo's adorable expression, with Hiroto walking up to her. Momo didn't expect for Hiroto to come to her so suddenly so she fidgeted, muttering, "U-Um, is there anything I can do for you, Hiroto?"

Hiroto looked serious for a moment, and said, "I need to see your library."

"... What?"

--------------------

After a short while later, the group sat in a large hall with a long table that spanned from one end of the room to the other, situated in the middle. The decorations reminded them of a victorian manor that they've seen from shows.

"I feel so out of place, it's making me nervous," Ojiro said.

"Yeah, I get that feeling too," Sero added.

Hiroto was sat on one side of the table next to Mina and had a gloomy expression, muttering, "What kind of library doesn't have manga?"

"A normal one?" Mina said, tilting her head.

Momo then walked while pushing a small wooden cart that had ȧssortments of snacks, tea, and plates on them.

"What is it?" Momo asked them with her still excited and bright expression, radiating a cozy vibe from her.

To which the group besides Hiroto responded with a smile, "Oh, nothing…" Feeling cozy with her as well.

Momo then walked over to Hiroto and said, "Well, um, I'm sorry that you were disappointed by our library."

Hiroto shook his head and said, "It's alright, I shouldn't have had such high expectations."

Momo looked confused and thought, 'Are we out of date? Do we need to update our library?' She then took her phone out and texted her mother, asking her how much manga stores cost nowadays and that they need to update their collection since her friend was disappointed by it.

She then clapped her hands and said, "Well, let's get to studying!"

--------------------

Meanwhile, in a highrise office, a woman with features similar to Momo was going over the contents of her meeting with the company's shareholders until she got a message from her daughter.

"Aren't her friends at the house today?" The woman asked her secretary, to which she replied with an affirmative nod. The woman then read the message with curiosity, until her eyes then narrowed.

Turning to her secretary, she said, "Yui, I want you to do a search on all the available manga stores that are either in debt, bankrupt, or still starting up. Make a comprehensive list of all of them and give it to me by tonight."

"Uhm, Ma'am?" Yui, the secretary, asked with confusion.

"Just do it!" The woman said with a serious disposition. Yui quickly nodded and scampered off, frightened by her usually mild-mannered boss.

The woman leaned back into her leather chair and said, "It seems our library collection is insufficient… what a blunder…"

--------------------

Back at U.A. Highschool, the teachers were currently gathered in a meeting room and were discussing what to do for the practical exams.

"The kids from class 1-A believe that it will be the same as the entrance exam," Aizawa said lazily.

Snipe turned to the other teachers and said, "If we consider how fights against Villains will continue to intensify in today's society following Hosu City, then combat training against robots is not practical."

Cementoss then interrupted and said, "I understand why you want to change the exam, but having the students fight us in teams of two…"

Thirteen nodded and said, "Yes, I think that is a bit unfair."

Present Mic pointed his finger forward and said, "If we win too easily, we won't be able to give them grades."

Snipe agreed and said, "Of course, we would take that into consideration and give ourselves a handicap."

Aizawa, who was in charge of class 1-A turned to Nezu next to him and asked, "Principle Nezu, what do you think?"

Nezu nodded his head and said, "Of course, I also agree with changing the practical exam. If we want to keep the students from being in even more danger, what should we do? We'll just have to make them stronger!"

"That's true." Midnight agreed.

"I have no objections." Thirteen said.

They then spent the rest of the meeting adjusting the pairings and which teacher they will be fighting with. Then it came down to one last student, Hiroto.

"You all already know what the exam will consist of and how we are going to target the student's weaknesses so they can work on them. However, there is one student that we need to take into full consideration." Nezu then clicked on a remote to show the profile of Hiroto to appear on the large display behind them.

The Mathematics teacher, Ectoplasm, said, "I have read the reports and seen footage of Moriyama and it seems that in terms of strength, speed, endurance, and reflexes he can be ruled out in those areas. In regards to his intelligence, there are areas of improvement, but time spent studying can fix that. His techniques are straightforward and is supported by his strength. That leaves his cooperativeness."

"Why not just have him go up against All Might?" Present Mic asked.

Thirteen shook her head and said, "That would be counterproductive. We're going to be targeting their weaknesses, not their strengths."

Snipe then added, "We already have All Might going against Katsuki Bakugo and Izuku Midoriya since the two are on such bad terms together. The only one left is Midnight."

Midnight raised an eyebrow towards Present Mic and said, "You just want to see him fight All Might, don't you?"

Present Mic grinned and said, "Who doesn't?"

The rest of the teachers nodded, with Nezu following up to say, "You are correct in all of these remarks, but we can save that fight for the future."

All Might and the teachers were surprised at Nezu's willingness to have Hiroto go against the Symbol of Peace one on one but ȧssumed that he had some sort of plan in store.

Nezu continued addressing the teachers, "So far, all we have seen of Moriyama is him acting alone without a partner, so we can target this area. We have also seen that his attention span is quite short, so I would say we should have him go up against Midnight due to her quirk since we don't know if he would be resistant to mind-altering quirks."

Midnight gave a smile and licked her lips, saying, "You can leave him to me, I'll make sure to whip him into shape."

Aizawa shook his head and said, "Are you sure that's a good idea? You've all seen his speed, what's stopping him from just running away from her 'aroma'."

Cementoss put on a thoughtful expression and answered, "We can include a rescue objective to his pairing, which we have all deduced to be Hanta Sero. This way we can also have the boy Sero utilize his quirk for rescue missions with his quirk in preparation for his development. Moriyama could improve his cooperation as well as build a resistance to anything mind-altering."

[Authors Note: After the practical exam would be the events of I-Island, since it happened before the woods training camp, or so I was told. The plan would be to have Hiroto obtain a ticket due to getting 1st place in the sports festival for the Grand Opening of it. A few days after that the island would be open to the public, so the class would also be taken too. Well, that's the plan anyway, I still haven't watched the movie hahaha.... Let me know if my plan here has any plot holes.]