It'd been three days since my training in the UA woods. Now, here I was again, only feeling the weight of even more pressure than last time.

The past three days have been filled up to the last second with training, talking with Shota about school, and spending some quality sister time with Eri. Every minute I spent there in that new home was more time spent beginning to understand the world that had evaded me for so long. One with even a semblance of normality.

I went to the doctors again yesterday. They were happy that I'd been eating well, but said that I was still a little underweight for a fifteen year old girl. Shota wasn't all that excited about that, and had been forcing me to eat every last scrap he placed in front of me. It was a little annoying, but still I felt cared for for the first time in a long while and was reminded by that each time he'd scowl and hold me hostage at the dinner table until I was completely finished.

Two days ago I'd been training and he came to find me and fetch me for lunch. He'd told me then that, even though he knew it was still me and she was still a part of me, in his eyes I no longer even resembled the girl that he first saw at the LOV's hideout. Said that I seemed so much healthier, livelier, and even happier now.

While ultimately that was true, I wasn't exactly happy right now. 'Stressed' was much closer to how I was feeling. Today was my entrance exam. I was excited for about two minutes after Shota told me I could attend UA, then promptly started stressing about the entrance exam and hadn't stopped since.

I stood outside the large mock urban city called Ground Beta, fiddling with the edge of my black t-shirt in an attempt to calm my nerves. The doors would open any minute now and I had no semblance of a plan whatsoever. All I could do was keep going over everything they'd told me about the exam, which wasn't much.

They said that because of my unique situation my test would be modified and I wouldn't be taking the same one that other students had. Apparently there were three teachers acting as 'villains' and three student volunteers from summer classes acting as their 'captives' scattered about Ground Beta. All they told me was that I simply had to save the students and make it out the other gate with all three of them. It seemed to simple though, so I knew there had to be more to it than that. More that they'd be watching for.

I guess all that I should be worrying about right now is how to find the first student, I doubt they'll all be together. So.. how do I figure out where to look?

I didn't have time to answer that question, as the gates opened that very second. Apparently I didn't have to, either, because my first victim, and my first opponent, stood directly in front of me.

The villain was positioned in the center of a vertical street, facing me. The street looked like it was supposed to resemble some sort of market, with little vacant shops crowded together and a few empty stands scattered down the curb. The sidewalks were very wide and the road narrow.

The fough villain looked strong, not as strong as those I'd known in the past, but plenty strong nonetheless. He hadn't made a move yet, which gave me time to assess my surroundings, and him. He was large, and looked to be made of some sort of rock material. Or maybe.. cement? His head and neck were just one large rectangle, and he wore a deep frown, his eyes narrowed. Most of all though, I was drawn to his hands. There were large, and around their wrists hung his only support item, so I inferred that with them lay the center of his quirk. So I'll watch his hands.

Though he did look rather daunting, and I hadn't fought a day in my life, I couldn't forget that my task wasn't to defeat him, but to save whoever he was guarding. So, I quickly scanned the area for the student. Eventually my eyes landed on a figure tied up to a lampost with some sort of tape behind the villain. He was decently far away, so all I could make out of him was a messy mop of green hair, but now I knew where he was, which was all I needed to know.

All right, now-

BAM!!

I rolled aside just in time to avoid the attack. I tumbled to the ground, scraping my knees and palms in the process, before I regained my footing. I took a deep breath and stood. Eyes wide, I glanced to where I'd just been standing. In place of the small patch of pavement was a gigantic cylinder of cement, the ground beneath its place of impact torn to shreds. Are they trying to kill me?!

No, I thought, that attack was clearly delayed. I had plenty of time to dodge.

I steadied my breathing and looked to the source of the strike. He was kneeling, and in the process of peeling his large hands off of the sidewalk. It was fading, but I could tell that they were glowing slightly. This gave me a few good guesses about his quirk, but I needed a little more information, so I decided to try and bring forth another attack.

I stretched one arm above my head and then dropped it. When he didn't move I ran forward, straight at him. Quicker than I would've thought, the large man dropped his glowing hands back to the sidewalk and sent another onslaught of cement my way.

With careful premeditated movements I ducked and rolled into the open door of one of the street's shops. I'd spotted the cover ahead of time, as I wasn't planning on actually getting hurt during this. Sure, the villains attacks were more blunt, and therefore wouldn't be likely to draw blood, and I did have my bandage rope thingie (which I hadn't quite figured out a name for yet), but I always liked to be on the safe side of things.

I shuffled into the corner of the shop and waited. After a few moments I decided that my suspicions had been confirmed, and that he wouldn't follow me inside, seeing as the inside of the shop was all wood paneling and glass. Not great for someone who's quirk thrived on cement. Once I'd confirmed that I'd be safe inside, at least for the moment, I gave myself a moment to think.

He's to far away for my horn to sense the extent of his power, but even without my quirk I can tell that I couldn't beat this "villain" in one on one battle, and I'd like to avoid that anyway. However, now that I have a pretty good understanding of his quirk I think I can manage to get by with staying on the defensive and ultimately fleeing with the captive while avoiding any conflict. To do this all I have to do is keep away from the ground every time I see him kneel and press his hands against the cement. I can do that by jumping and latching onto walls made of substances other than his core material, like brick, which many of the buildings are made of. He seems like he needs to take a moment to recuperate after each of his strikes, so during each of those times I can move forward a little, eventually reaching the captive. Figuring out how to untie him from that tape stuff might be a little tricky though.

My plan was simple, but effective. I continuously taunted the villain, who called himself Cementoss, into attacks, which I'd dodge by quickly hopping up to the safety of different brick walls and balconies. And afterward when he was recovering I'd move closer to his victim. The longer this went on the more tired Cementoss got as well, and he didn't seem to be making any effort to strategize, so I deduced from this that the teachers weren't supposed to go all out.

Finally I reached the lamppost that the boy was tied up to, Cementoss breathing heavily behind me after another strike I'd managed to dodge. The boy was facing away from me, so I couldn't see his face, but I could hear him whining about his arm hurting. So they're supposed to fake injuries, too?? I thought this wasn't supposed to be complicated, jeez. I knew that I didn't have much time before the villain struck again, so I sprinted up to the lamppost and made quick work of the tape restricting the student with a knife I'd managed to snag from the shop I'd hidden in.

Once he was freed the boy collapsed into my arms. I looked back to Cementoss, who was kneeling down to place his hands on the ground. I quickly turned back to the boy acting limp in my arms,

"Can you walk?"

He nodded.

"All right, which arm hurts?"

"Left." He groaned, the pain in his voice sounding impressively realistic. Either he's just a real good actor, or he's acting on experience. I got him standing up straight and grabbed his right arm, dragging him along as I sprinted away from the villain preparing to strike.

Once we rounded a corner I looked back to make sure we weren't being followed. Much to my relief we were not. "Then they really were told to go easy on me, huh?" I muttered to myself.

"Wait.. (y/n)?"

"Huh?" I turned back to the student I'd 'rescued' and my eyes widened. "Midoriya??"

"You remembered my name." The boy scratched his neck. Sure enough, it was the same kid from Eri's drawings, the same one I'd met at the mall too. I blinked in surprise, and opened my mouth to speak before closing it. I'm still in the middle of the exam. I reminded myself.

"Can you tell me anything about the second villain?" I asked instead. Midoriya shook the look of surprise off his face and nodded,

"We're allowed to tell you one piece of information each concerning the second and third 'villains'. That could be their location, their quirk, or a weakness." He informed me, cradling his right arm.

"Location."

"In that 'hotel' over down that street." He pointed.

"Thanks," I smiled, "Oh, and it's the left."

"Huh?"

"You're holding your right arm, but it's the left that's supposed to be hurt, right?" I asked. Midoriya nervously chuckled and switched arms,

"Uh, we should get going?" He asked, changing the subject. I nodded.