Chapter 39: Final Exams Start!
Summary: Final practical exams, go!
Chapter 39: Final Exams Start!
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The morning of their theoretical final exams had been tense for many students, though neither Izumi or Momo had felt much pressure. They'd both gotten more than a few glares and pouts from the less academically inclined students for the 'unfair' advantages their Quirks gave them, much to their private amusement. That wasn't anything new for either of them, after all, and they both knew no one was truly seriously upset over it. Which was, frankly, better than average for groups of their peers. They had long gotten over it, knowing that they had applied themselves just as hard as anyone else, simply choosing to do so in other directions. Things like the HSN and Momo's armor hadn't happened without a serious time commitment to study and applications of the knowledge studied, after all.
Thankfully, the extra study sessions provided by UA did seem to have helped the rest of the class keep up. Despite Mina, Denki, and Sero all looking a little bit like their souls had left their bodies, no one seemed overly worried that they'd actually failed. Not all of them were exactly confident that they'd scored well, perhaps, but no one seemed to think they'd failed. Which, given that UA had one of the highest academic standards in the country, shy only of Tokyo University, said a lot. Even the least academically inclined members of this particular Group were likely well into the 90th percentile of the overall population, and it showed.
Which didn't mean they weren't all immensely grateful that the theoretical and practical tests weren't on the same day. That would have been cruel beyond even Nedzu's sadistic streak. All of them had a night to recover after the theoreticals, with orders not to do more than light training this afternoon in their usual Practical Heroics periods. And it showed as they all trickled into change for the practical exams, energy largely restored. Even if there were even more nerves about the upcoming practical test than there had been about the theoretical side…
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"Oh shit, that can't be good."
Mina was the one whose comment made it over the rest to be heard by the group, but the general murmur of the others was of roughly the same tone. Not that Izumi could blame them, despite a certain instinctive desire to cry 'language!' After all, the sight that caused the comment was…concerning. Specifically, they'd all just walked out of the dressing room tunnel to find five professors and an similar number of the extras. Most were recognizable as some of 'guest heroes' that had been giving lectures for the last two weeks, though Nejire-chan was with them as well, recognizable to the Group as a whole from the footage of the Nagoya incident. Right there with all of them, on a small podium mounted to a larger platform was the Dean. Who, as they all slowly gathered before the group of heroes, spoke up with a particular sort of good cheer that sent a shiver down more than one spine.
"Good, you're all here! With you having already survived your theorical exams yesterday, now it's time for your practicals! And, as you were warned, the fact that your class has shown its exceptional potential already means we had to put together something special just for you!"
Nedzu waved his paw at the heroes on the platform with him. Cementoss, Eraserhead, Ectoplasm, Snipe and Midnight represented their professors, while Ingenium, Kamui Woods, Gunhead, and a fiercely grinning Miruko represented guests heroes. Nejire, too, was also waving energetically from one end of the podium, causing Izumi to tentatively wave back. Nejire silently cheered at that, causing Izumi's lips to quirk upward at the corners, even as the Dean continued his speech.
"We've put together a challenge for all of you, that will press you hard on all aspects of your experiences thus far. Each of you will be paired with one other of your classmates, then thrown into a challenge against either one of your professors or one of our wonderful guest lecturers! The challenge will work like this…"
Nedzu paused as the large portable screen that had been rolled out behind him lit with ten displays, each showing a different training battle zone. All of them were a minimum of several city blocks large…and when one of them abruptly took over the rest to display to show a zoomed-in view, there were 'civilian' robots moving about to complete the illusion of a typical city block.
"Each pair of students will be assigned a zone to patrol. After a short prep time, you must start patrolling and wait for your opponent to appear. Those opponents, of course, will be those here on the stage with me! No, you will not know who you are facing before they attack. And when they do attack, you will have just one job. Protect the civilians! How you go about doing that is up to you. You can try to capture or defeat your attacker, attempt to drive them off, or simply occupy them for the twenty-minute duration of your test. You start with 100 points. For every civilian injured, you lose a point. For every civilian bot killed, you lose three points. If you are both knocked out, disabled, or otherwise eliminated, you fail the test outright!"
Nedzu was far too cheerful about this, even as much of the class was looking decidedly pale. Iida managed to shake off his own concerns about possibly facing his brother to raise a hand, asking a question of the Dean while doing so.
"Sir? There are only 19 of us! Will someone be fighting solo?"
Nedzu nodded at him.
"Excellent observation! No! But you were on the right track. Instead, there will be one three-person team. However, that team will be fighting two foes, instead of one. Your senpai, 3rd year Nejire Hado," Nedzu paused to wave at Nejire, who smiled hugely at them all, "will be acting as the second villain. Ms. Hado being a fellow student instead of another pro hero will be the balancing handicap for that team."
Izumi winced. Whoever that team was, they were in for hell. Nejire might not be a pro-heroine just yet, but she was a member of the latest 'Big Three.' Worse, Izumi had seen her fight and knew just how powerful the older girl was. Actually, with a sinking feeling, she realize who was most likely to be facing her. Both she and Momo were fliers and none of the Pros were. Which made it likely at least one of them would be up against Hado…
"Now, while you won't know your opponents…we'll show you your teams right now! Here they are!"
With another theatrical wave of his paw, the screen changed to a list of who was teamed together. Izumi scanned it, eyes wide as she saw her own pairing.
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Aoyama Yuga & Iida Tenya
Ashido Mina & Jiro Kyoka
Asui Tsuyu & Kaminari Denki
Uraraka Ochaco & Kirishima Eijrio
Ojiro Mashirao & Bakugo Katsuki
Koji Koda & Tokoyami Fumikage
Sato Rikido & Sero Hanta
Shoji Mezo & Hagakure Toru
Izumi Midoriya, Minoru Mineta & Yaoyorozu Momo
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She was with Momo, which should have been awesome. Even with Mineta, who occasionally still perved on both of them. He'd cleaned up his act enough that they could at least work with him, after all, even if it wasn't a matchup either of them would be overly enthused about. But normally the staff made considerable efforts to keep her and Momo off the same team, as they were unquestionably the two most powerful students in Group A. The fact that they were not only together, but also on the three person team was…concerning. Her eyes flicked to the heroes present and she sighed. Obviously, they'd be facing Nejire. But Izumi had a feeling, seeing Miruko's smirk in their direction, that she also knew their other opponent. This was going to be rough…