maybe | hitoshi shinsou x reader

~chapter 17~

The day of the practical exam has you and your sweaty classmates being told to line up in front of the school in your hero outfits. You, of course, have yet to get yours—even though you definitely placed in an order for it and everything—and are once again relegated to your gym sweats.

Maybe you should give up on trying to bug Nedzu, and come to terms with saving people in sweatpants or pajamas or something equally unprofessional and embarrassing.

Eight or so teachers—Present Mic, Aizawa, and Midnight amongst them—stand across from the line of students, their stoic presence demanding silence. You'd be more intimated by them if you weren't too busy being intimidated by the test you'll be taking soon.

After everyone's settled in line under the uncomfortably warm sun in uncomfortably warm clothes and far from any of the shade the school's shadow might offer, Aizawa says something about how the test is gonna start soon. That announcement is of course followed by about by about ten minutes of nothing happening, steeped in the relatively quiet anxiousness and teen angst of your classmates. People are getting fidgety and even sweatier, which you had previously thought impossible. Though, Iida is so stock-still you might think he died, and Midoriya is, very minutely, shaking like a leaf. If the teachers are tying to psych everyone out with the wait, then they're certainly succeeding. Not too long after Bakugou's started tapping his foot, teeth grinding so hard it's nearly audible, Aizawa reminds you all that failing the practice exam is indeed an option.

Which is just such a lovely reminder, thanks.

"You probably have a vague notion of what you're supposed to do..." Aizawa says in regards to the contents of the test. While he rest of the class wilts under his stare, Ashido and Kaminari light up like Christmas trees, remembering that they're in no real danger of failing.

"Yeah!" Kaminari whoops, any previous tension absent from his body as he pumps a triumphant fist in the air. "Just like the entrance exam."

Ashido is similarly giddy, and joins in with, "I'm so ready for that training camp! Hot springs here I come!" She raises her hand for a high five and Kaminari smacks his own palm against it. Kaminari and Ashido's cheer is a little infectious, and the other students seem to deflate a bit with the reminder that this is something they've faced before.

"Actually," comes a familiar mousy voice as Nedzu pops out from the folds of Aizawa's scarf, "we'll be changing the contents of the practice exam, in light of recent events."

When you're able to get over the shock of Nedzu's entrance—how long has he been in there? Does he do that a lot?—you can almost see light in Kaminari and Ashido's eyes die.

"That is to say, boys and girls," Nedzu says, ignoring the frantic squawking of his panicking students as he slides down the length of Aizawa's scarf onto the ground. "You'll be fighting in pairs against one of these educators."

What?

~~

Fifteen minutes later you've been shunted off onto a bus with your partner—Sero Hanta, who you've never spoken to—to go to a mysterious testing location to enter a combat simulation with Midnight, the goal which is to either handcuff your teacher or escape by the skin of your teeth. At least, you think that was the gist of Nedzu's explanation. It's a bit of a blur, because you were a little overwhelmed, what with all the thought and planning you had put into the idea of the original scenario having been unceremoniously slam dunked into the garbage.