Chapter 45 - Practical Exam Day

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 him 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."

Nezu nodded and said, "That's suitable. I would've preferred to be the one conducting their exams."

Aizawa looked at the sheets in his hands and said, "You're paired with Ashido and Kaminari, Principle Nezu. For better or worse, they're single-minded and action-oriented. Principle, please use your intelligence and put them in their place."

"Okay," Nezu said in a cheery tone, planning different ways to trap the students, cut off their escape routes and make them despair- *cough* think outside the box.

The teachers were already used to Nezu's peculiarity and brushed it aside. Aizawa looked at the other teachers and said, "That should conclude the pairings and the teacher ȧssigned to them. I already contacted the support department to have them make weighted bracelets for us as handicaps."

All Might suddenly interrupted and said, "I have a request, and that is for Moriyama to have the weights instead of Midnight."

Midnight frowned and said, "That going to be too much for him."

All Might shook his head and said, "No, it won't Even I myself am doubting whether they would be that much of a hindrance to him or not."

Nezu and Aizawa agreed, with Nezu concluding the meeting, saying "I look forward to everyone's performance."

[One studying and test montage later]

The weekend quickly flew by and the Written Exams finally approached. After a grueling 3 days, the class finished their last exam with high spirits, especially the group that studied at Momo's home.

The day of the practical exam arrived, and everyone was currently nervous. The class was gathered at a location called the 'Practical Exam Area - Center Plaza'. In front of them were 9 teachers, with All Might hiding on the side to perform his entrance.

Gathered in front of them were Ectoplasm, Cementoss, Power loader, Snipe, Present Mic, Aizawa, Thirteen, Midnight, and Nezu, who was hiding in Aizawa's scarf for some reason.

"Alright, the day of the practical exam has arrived." Aizawa addressed his class, who were all wearing their Hero costume. Hiroto stood in the middle and front of the group in his suit, for reasons unknown to him, he kept getting glances from each of the teachers.

"If you want to go to the training camp, then don't make any stupid mistakes." Aizawa continued, the students in turn were also confused as they saw a lot of the teachers gathered today for what they thought would be a battle against robots. "I expect that you all have gathered information ahead of time and have some idea of what you will be doing."

"We're fighting robot warriors like at the entrance exam, right?!" Kaminari shouted out.

"Fireworks! Curry! Test of courage!" Mina exclaimed, listing all the things she wanted to do at the camp.

"Too bad!!" Nezu's voice came from within Aizawa's scarf, addressing the students, "For various reasons, the exam will be different starting this time! Very, very different!" his eyes then glanced at Hiroto, before turning to the others as he hopped out of Aizawa's scarf.

He then went on to explain that they wanted to focus on person-to-person combat and hero work, and stress teaching that was closer to actual fighting.

"So you students will be pairing up and fighting one of the teachers you see here!" Nezu said, to which the students had their eyes wide open from the unexpected change to their exam.

Aizawa went on to explain how the pairings and the teacher they were ȧssigned to fight against were determined. It took into account various factors, including fighting style, grades, and interpersonal relationships.

He then went on to list the pairings and the teacher they would be facing off against and in which order the matches would be held in.

1st Match: Team Sato & Kirishima vs. Cementoss

2nd Match: Team Asui & Tokoyami vs. Ectoplasm

3rd Match: Team Ida and Ojiro vs. Power Loader

4th Match: Team Todoroki & Yaoyorozu vs Eraser Head

5th Match: Team Uraraka & Aoyama vs. Thirteen

6th Match: Team Ashido & Kaminari vs. Nezu

7th Match: Team Koda & Jiro vs. Present Mic

8th Match: Team Hagakure & Shoji vs. Snipe

9th Match: Team Midoriya & Bakugo vs. All Might

10th Match: Team Moriyama (Hiroto) & Sero vs. Midnight

The rules were then explained. Each match has a time limit of thirty minutes. Their objective is to either put handcuffs on the teacher or to escape the area.

After the explanation, the 1st match was being prepared and the students had the option of either watching the matches from the monitoring room or to warm up.

When Hiroto was with Sero casually chatting, Nezu and Aizawa approached them from the side and explained to them that they would be having an extra objective of rescuing someone held hostage.

Sero was about to say that it was unfair, but Aizawa told him that for him, it wouldn't affect his performance at the end, and it was targeted only towards Hiroto.

Sero thought for a moment, then read between the lines and just decided to go with the flow and do his best to help Hiroto. Before they left, Aizawa said, "There is one more requirement for you, Moriyama. Follow me."

Hiroto was then brought to a side room where he was presented with a box full of the ultra compressed weights from the support department.

Aizawa pointed to the weights and said, "You'll be wearing those."

Midnight then entered the room and said, "It wasn't my choice at the beginning, but your homeroom teacher has the final say on what he deems best for your future development."

Hiroto nodded, saying, "Well, how many would I need to wear?"

"Wear half of your body weight," Aizawa said tho which Hiroto complied and put the weights on both his arms and legs, feeling completely normal.

"So? How do you feel?" Aizawa asked him.

"Totally fine. Are you sure these are weights?" Hiroto said, swinging his arms around with ease.

Midnight and Aizawa's eyebrows twitched, with Aizawa pinching the bridge of his nose and saying, "Put more on then."

Aizawa and Midnight started to feel a headache coming on and asked him to put more on. 10 Minutes later, Aizawa and Midnight were seen leaving the room messaging their heads.

Behind them followed Hiroto, who had the weights along the entire length of his arms and legs, making him bȧrėly able to move his limbs since they were constricting his joints at this point, forcing him to waddle like a penguin. Underneath his foot, the ground would lightly crack due to all the weight on his body.

The students couldn't help but hold their laughter in seeing this, while the teachers all sighed. Nezu gave up and said, "Just take them off, there's no point since it doesn't affect him."

Hiroto nodded and lightly flexed his arms and legs muscles, causing the weights to snap and break, dropping to the ground with a loud thud, an indication of how heavy they were.

Aizawa sighed and said, "He said to take it off, not break them…"

Hiroto paused for a moment, saying, "Do you have warranty?"

"..."

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

The 1st match was already underway when Hiroto was busy trying on his weights. It ended quite quickly with Cememtoss trapping them in a cement pit and knocking them out.

Stood by Hirotow as Mina, Kaminari, Sero, Momo, and Todorki, who were all starting to look nervous, especially Sero and Momo.

Momo started to fidget even more than usual, thinking about her exam and going up against Aizawa with Todoroki. She turned to Hiroto and whispered to him, asking, "What do you usually do to stay calm?"

Hiroto turned to Momo, thinking for a second and saying, "Just think back to your happy thoughts." His mind went over the countless hours he spent laying in bed and reading his manga.

Momo thought to herself for a moment, then gave a slight smile and focused back on the screen.

Todoroki from the side was scribbling in his notes. However, he then paused and thought, 'Happy thoughts…' The face of his mother flashed before his mind, before disappearing.

Hiroto still says that Momo was still nervous and anxious, saying, "Just believe in yourself. You're a lot stronger than you make yourself out to be." 'Besides, just imagine the amount of cool stuff you can make… like collectibles…' Not saying the last part out loud, keeping it to himself.

Momo's eyes went wide for a moment until she smiled with slight tears gathering in the corner of her eyes and turned away.

Todoroki was still scribbling away, imagining himself saying those same words.

Mina and Kaminari were still unsure of what to think for their match since they were up against Principle Nezu. Sero on the other hand was still trying to wrap his head around what they were going to do against Midnight, especially since they needed to rescue someone else.

He then nudged Hiroto, asking, "Do you have a plan on what we should do?"

"Just punch her?" Hiroto answered.

Sero facepalmed and swung his helmet in his hand, saying, "I'm talking about the rescue part. Do you want to take charge of it, or should I, since you can keep Midnight distracted."

"Sure, that works," Hiroto said.

Sero then asked him, "Do you think her quirk will work on you?"

Hiroto shrugged, saying, "Only one way to find out."