Deep Red

38

"Recovery Girl! I wanna see this and I have a free period right now. Can I please stay to watch?" I asked loudly, as I opened the door to the room from which Recovery Girl was watching the final exams. There were some students there as well. The two I noticed were Midoriya and Uraraka.

"Sure, come on in, Takahashi." Recovery Girl replied with a kind smile. I quickly made my way down to the screen.

"Thanks. Hi, Midoriya and Uraraka. Are you waiting for your turn with the exam?" I asked. Uraraka nodded.

"I figured we could get into the right strategic mindset, watching how our classmates did in the exams." Midoriya replied.

"Strategic. Nice, I like it. Well, don't let me bother you. Who is he up against, Recovery Girl?" I wanted to know, sounding a little giddy. It had been a while since I had last seen Shouta fight and I didn't want to miss that chance.

"Those two." Recovery Girl answered, pointing at the screen. I saw Todoroki and Yaoyorozu standing there. Yaoyorozu looked incredibly nervous. The sound of the buzzer rang out just as I got to a good spot to watch this match. Yaoyorozu looked a little startled by the sudden sound.

"Team Todoroki and Yaoyorozu. Practical Exam. Ready, go!"

The two of them started running through the streets of the town simulation that they were in. They tried to stick to narrow alleys.

"Yaoyorozu. Listen. I want you to keep making small objects. When you stop being able to, it means Mr. Aizawa is close by. Our success will depend on which one of us finds the other first. Once we spot him, I'll draw him to me. Then you can run to the escape gate and win this thing for us. Just stay close to me until then." Todoroki said to her. It seemed like a good plan, but... it seemed way too simple. Yaoyorozu didn't look too happy about it herself, but Todoroki never noticed.

"C'mon. Hurry up and start making things." Todoroki said to her.

"Sure. No problem." Yaoyorozu replied. That girl looked like she was feeling pretty down to me. I wondered what was going on there. The two of them started running through the streets again while Yaoyorozu was making tons of tiny Russian matryoshka dolls. It looked pretty weird how they just kept popping out of her body like that.

"Um. I guess those work okay, but what are they?" Todoroki asked, seemingly distracted by the dolls.

"Oh, these things? They're just Russian nesting dolls." Yaoyorozu said as she stuck some of them into her belt. She sounded tired.

"Right. Let me know if you notice your Quirk acting strangely at all." he replied and started running ahead again with Yaoyorozu following.

"I'd expect nothing less from you, Todoroki."

"What do you mean?"

"You were able to come up with a plan to use against Mr. Aizawa so quickly. You knew exactly what was best, as soon as we started."

"This is nothing."

I sighed and shook my head. Why was she putting herself down so much? She could have probably come up with a good plan on her own. Maybe even a better one. Was she feeling insecure? If she did, she barely showed it.

"Yaoyorozu, you're not making those dolls anymore!" Todoroki suddenly exclaimed. I looked up at the screen again.

"I'm sorry!" Yaoyorozu shouted as Shouta came into view hanging onto some electricity cables with his binding cloth.

"If you know I'm here then you should be acting." he said, dropping down right behind them as they turned around.

"I would suggest that you prioritize evasion, since I've taken your power from you." he added, staring down at Todoroki with his Quirk activated.