Koto's POV

"For the 100 of you who passed the first test, please turn your attention to the screen," the announcer says from the intercom. I, along with the rest of my classmates, gaze at the screen as it shows multiple different shots of the test arena.

Without warning, a building explodes and begins to crumble, followed by many more structures. We all call out in shock as the arena begins to look more like a warzone than before.

"There's only one more round to the exam," Mera continues. "Your goal is simple: undertake rescue exercises and save the bystanders who are trapped in these disaster sites. Use this time to show us how you will carry out successful rescue procedures once you receive your provisional licenses. Treat this as though it were the real thing."

The man introduces a group of actors, the HUC, who are dressed as bystanders. Apparently they'll be scoring us based on how well we "save them."

In the ten minutes before this part of the exam starts, our class starts strategizing. Of course Shoji is going to be our main reconnaissance person, searching for any victims, though Koda will also be able to help. The job the strategists gave me is to help move rocks and debris around and create a path for the so called injured.

I hang out with Ochaco as the rest of our classmates chat and plan. We overhear something about a Shiketsu student attacking Midoriya while naked, so I can sense a little tension rising in my friend. I'm careful to calm her down as a group of students from that school approach us.

"Bakugo," the one covered in hair greets, only to be met with the boy's usual cold response. "I think you met Shishikura in the test. My classmate with the flesh-molding power?"

I suppress a shudder just thinking about a quirk like that. I can't begin to imagine what sort of fight went down. Turning back to my brunette friend, we discuss techniques on how to most efficiently move rubble until the exam starts.

I steel my nerves as the room once again opens up to the arena, the announcer narrating the situation. As I understand it, we're treating this as if the first responders have been barred from entry to the mock city, so we must lead the rescue efforts. As soon as we're released, I charge out of the room with my classmates.

"Let's start by heading to the closest urban area," Iida calls out, leading the team. "We'll work as a team as much as possible."

I recognize that in an area with so much debris, large teams may be helpful, but I can't help but think we'll save the most people if we divide and conquer. If my brief time in Hosu taught me anything, it was that people can be trapped anywhere and may not always survive the time it takes for heroes to get there. I shudder as I recall the hoard of people I had coaxed out of debris with Panic; the innocent civilians that couldn't be saved even when out in the open.

I notice Bakugo runs off in another direction with Eijiro and Kaminari on his tail. As always, him and his team of bros. My redheaded friend turns, beckoning me to join them, but I have to shake my head. My job is to stay with Ochaco.

It's not too long before we find our first victim. The little boy's cries catch Midoriya's attention and the whole group rushes over. He crouches on the ground, screaming, "my grandpa! He's been crushed! I think he's hurt!"

"Oh, no," Midoriya exclaims upon reaching the boy. "This looks bad. Where is he?"

I mentally facepalm as the boy sits up, all pretense of being scared gone. He goes on a lengthy rant, chastising the trainee hero on his wording. Of course a scared, hurt child wouldn't want to hear that coming from the people who are supposed to save him. Midoriya smacks himself in the face, saving me the trouble of doing it myself, and seems to reset, telling the "injured child" that everything is fine and volunteering to bring him to the first aid station.

Ochaco and I watch him go, the boy continuing to chastise Midoriya for his lack of creativity and empathy. "I'll go with th-them," I say. "He d-definitely needs my help. Sero, you're covering for me!"

"Roger that," he calls back, assessing the situation with the old man.

"I promise we can do this," I illuse in a quiet voice next to Ochaco as I run.

"Good luck," I barely hear her say as I try to catch up with Midoriya.

"The others have found your grandfather and are already working to free him," I illuse in my mother's comforting tone when I catch up to the two. I figure that a stuttering hero wouldn't provide much comfort, so it's best to use the softest, most welcoming voice I know.

"Yamada," the green haired boy exclaims, "what're you doing here?"

"There are plenty of people who can move rubble," I illuse quietly. "I may be more helpful in the first aid and evacuation area."

"Good thinking!"

I give the small, HUC actor a warm smile. Seeing the small boy with blood running down his face, I get reminded of the car accident way back when. The first responders had been cold and distant, outwardly assessing the situation and making comments about how bad it was. I take the actor's words to heart, knowing how much difference a comforting attitude can have on a young kid.

"Are you feeling dizzy?" I decide to ask on our way, hoping to get some intel on the boy's condition.

"A little bit," he says, tears in his eyes as he puts a hand to his bloody forehead.

"Is there any pain anywhere else?" Midoriya asks, starting to understand where I'm getting at.

"Some in my right ankle," the boy sniffles.

"When we get to the first aid center, we'll get that looked at right away while we wait for your grandpa, okay?" The green haired boy explains, smiling brightly.

"You there," a brunette calls out from the first aid area as we approach. "Let me see that boy!"

"Yeah, of course," Midoriya replies, setting the boy down gently. "His head got hurt somehow."

I walk forward to address the girl, illusing, "possible concussion, bleeding, and minor injury to his right ankle." As much as Midoriya is trying to help, he really needs to focus on what matters most to helping this kid. Yes, we should be comforting, but the faster they can tend to him without asking the same questions for no reason, the more people they can help.

"Are there any victims who require further attention?" I illuse as she bends down to the boy.

"One woman over there has been inconsolable," she says, pointing over her shoulder to a young blonde woman screeching at the three heroes trying to ask her questions.

"I can help," I reply, already rushing over to her. I slow to a brisk walk as I approach, trying to not scare her.

"I get that you're scared, but we need to know if you're injured!"

"Get away from me!"

"You're the one who's scaring her! She's clearly been traumatized so stop yelling!"

"Hey, let's all calm down," I illuse, pushing the others aside as gently as I can. I crouch down next to the woman, offering her a smile. "Let's just all take a deep breath, yeah?"

I take an overly exaggerated breath, but the woman continues hyperventilating, grabbing at her hair and crying. It occurs to me that she's having a panic attack.

"Do you take any medications?" I ask, continuing to breathe slowly and just audibly enough that she has a pattern to follow.

The woman rapidly shakes her head, digging her nails into her scalp.

"Okay, then we'll sit here t-together," I say, sending a pointed glare over my shoulder at the heroes in training who were of no help at all. "Would you like to hold my hand?"

She slowly pulls her right hand out of her tangled hair and slips it into mine, nodding through her tears.

"My n-name is Maestro," I introduce, trying hard not to stutter, but in this case, I think the woman needs to feel grounded to her surroundings, so I elect to use my real voice. "I control sounds. Would hearing some m-music help?"

I get no real response from the lady, just her fearful pink eyes staring up at me, until she whispers out a single shaky word, "yes."

I take a deep breath and softly sing the first lullaby that comes to mind.

"Where the north wind meets the sea,
There's a river full of memory
Sleep my darling safe and sound
For in this river all is found."

I decide to skip over the second verse altogether because it's a bit dark, but by the end of the song, she seems to have calmed down enough to take solid, steady breaths. Just when everything seems calm and I'm about to ask if she's injured, explosions begin detonating all around the arena.

Chaos erupts around the first aid station as the actors freak out and the heroes in training try to calm them down. I piece together their messages to spread the illused statement throughout the area. "Please keep calm and be ready for evacuation. The heroes will take care of this."

I turn to the woman in front of me, but my eye catches something else. A large figure emerges from the rubble, their sleek black head shining in the sun. I recognize him as the pro hero Gang Orca. Mic had used him as an example when we were practicing with my Echolocation, so I know that he's nothing to mess around with.

"Tell me, wannabe heroes," he says in his deep voice as black clad people fall into ranks behind him, "can you rescue people and fight at the same time?"

"C-can you walk?" I hurriedly ask the lady sitting by me. She breathes heavily, nodding her head. "Good, go with the heroes in charge of evacuation. I'll make sure you get out safely."

The whale-like hero seems to be playing the villain in charge of the terrorist attacks. At this moment, he has his eyes set on the first aid camp. Although he and his lackeys are far away, I know it's best if it stays that way. We can't let them hurt the civilians.

The masked villains begin rushing us. I notice that they all have some sort of weapon on their arms, though I can't be sure what it is. "We have to protect them!" I illuse over the area as Gang Orca begins his approach to us.

It seems me and the kid from Ketsubutsu who split us up earlier with his vibration quirk have the same idea. We rush towards the villains and I notice an intense glint in the boy's eyes. "Get everyone to safety!" He calls out. "Get them as far away from the villains as possible!"

I stop when I have a clear view of Gang Orca among the running crowd, but the boy seems to have other plans. The hero in training that Midoriya called Shindo runs way too far to be safe before planting his hands on the ground and breaking the rock up, throwing off all the henchmen.

The hero isn't fazed though. He leaps over the rocky terrain and aims his head for Shindo, letting loose a terrible blast of sound. As the boy falls, I take up my position behind him as the only person to stand between the civilians and the terrorists.

I focus my attention on Gang Orca and decide in the moment what I want to name my next ultimate move. "Blaring Paralysis!" I sign before letting loose the sound of a train horn throughout the whole man's body. I watch as he stops in his tracks, shaking in pain. I take the opportunity to pull Shindo out of the way as Gang Orca tries to push through.

It takes him a fair amount of time, maybe 30 seconds, but he manages to fight through the pain, walking forward. I wouldn't expect much less of him, being the number ten hero and all. I know that I could actually incapacitate him if I could only touch him and use Echolocation, but I'm afraid he wouldn't let me get that close without attacking.

"Only two rear guards to hold us back?" The whale man asks, his voice strained as he forces his way closer. "You've underestimated me."

I increase the amplitude of the noise, hoping that there will be someone on sight to treat Gang Orca after this. If I use too high of an amplitude, I think I could really hurt him. I don't want to push it until I find out, though. I notice some of his lackeys emerging from the crumbled rocks, aiming their guns at the civilians.

"No," I yell, letting the sound dissipate. "It's me you've underestimated!"

"Sonic Boom!"

I set my feet in a wide stance and let loose a massive blast of sound towards the villains. The wave knocks most of them off their feet, but Gang Orca emits his own ultrasonic sound wave, pulsing in destructive amplitudes to my own. Not only does he negate the sound I've sent towards him, but he makes the recoil worse for me.

As I begin to lose my balance, I feel a cold surface pushing against my back, holding me in place. A sheet of ice flies towards Gang Orca and he turns to face it, breaking the crystals to pieces before they can even reach him.

"Todoroki!" Midoriya exclaims from right behind me.

Geez, I know this kid is a fanboy and all, but he's supposed to be helping with evacuation! He's got a civilian on his back! Either get out of here or pass her to someone else and help us!

I turn to see Todoroki standing a couple meters away, not letting up in his attacks. Ojiro, Mina, and Tokoyami approach Midoriya to brief him on the situation elsewhere as Todoroki freezes down the extra villains I had knocked down.

All of a sudden, the wind picks up, creating a cyclone around the mock terrorists and blowing them off their feet; the ones who haven't been frozen at least. Even so, the boy creating these winds is able to break through Todoroki's ice.

Finally, Midoriya and the others run off to help with evacuations. I believe that Todoroki and the other guy can handle Gang Orca, and I want to help too, but I know that I'll get a better score if I don't just stand around and watch. I lift Shindo from the ground, propping him up against me as I begin to run towards the evacuation sight.

Man, this would be a lot easier with Ochaco, I mentally groan, readjusting the heavy boy as he nearly slips from my grasp. I look behind me to see the two boys arguing instead of fighting the villains. I don't know anything about the Shiketsu kid, but is Todoroki really that blind? I guess I'll just have to handle this by myself.

The mock villains are still just within my range, so I focus, concentrating on what Nyikang had taught me about focusing on different targets when I can't rely on Echolocation. I target each individual person, setting off a horrible screeching around each of their heads. Most of the people in black suits fall to the ground, clutching their heads, but Gang Orca just seems to get mad. Thankfully, this seems to shake the two boys out of their fight quickly enough that they resume fighting the pro.

They may not be doing the best job, but at least they can keep him busy while I focus on this guy.

After running a little ways further with Shindo, I set him down by the evacuation area as the others help the HUC civilians out. The boy groans as he tries to sit up, but I gently put my hand on his shoulder, guiding him back towards the ground.

"Have to...help..." he mumbles, trying to push against me.

"Not yet," I say calmly, moving my thumb to touch against his bare skin. I close my eyes to activate Echolocation.
Instantly, I can sense all the inner workings of his body. Just as I had thought, nerves are going haywire in his brain. I don't know a lot about nerves, but I've done enough research to recognize the concussion. It must've happened when Gang Orca used his quirk against him.

I send small pinpricks of sound to interfere with the nerves signalling the release of prostaglandin. Without those, his brain won't recognize the injury. Using my quirk in this way could be dangerous, but I'd feel bad if I left him in pain.

I deactivate my quirk, opening my eyes to see the boy staring at me, shocked. He looks like he's about to say something, but I can feel the air superheating around us. I don't waste time looking behind me, instead just throwing myself over the boy as flames come rushing over us.

The downside to costumes like his that reveal skin is that they're a lot harder to fireproof. I'm thankful that my coat can act as a fireproof blanket over us, but it seems I wasn't the only one who thought to act.

A pair of hands grabs me from under my arms and lifts harshly. I try as hard as I can to hold onto the boy as we're pulled out of the way of the flames.

"Dammit," I hear Midoriya's voice above me. It registers that he must be the one that saved us. Not many other people could have reacted that fast. "What are you two doing?!"

He's too busy looking over his shoulder to see that we're barrelling towards the ground. Before any of us can do anything, we hit the hard rock, tumbling in a cloud of dust. At some point, I feel someone's knee hit my stomach hard. I groan, pushing myself to my hands and knees, coughing.

The lackeys are on the move again, rushing towards us. Midoriya and I are about to make a move when Shindo pushes us aside.

"I'll take care of this," he says, placing his hands to the ground. The terrorists are once again caught in the crumbling rock.

"Whoa, Shindo," Midoriya exclaims. "I thought you couldn't move because of his blast."

"Well, my extremities are still pretty numb," he replies with a cocky smile, "but she took away most of the pain."

The green haired boy looks over his shoulder at me in awe, but I'm not paying attention to him.

"Shindo, I only t-took away the p-pain, but you still have a c-conc-cussion!" I explain hurriedly, tripping over my words. "You c-can't make it worse."

"Did I take them down or not?" He asks rhetorically, sending me a sideways glance.

"I could've done that too."

"Either way, soundwaves aren't that bad. Pretty similar to my vibrations. So I've built up a pretty good tolerance to them."

"Are you even listening to me? You have a concussion, you idiot!"

Midoriya gasps. "Yamada--"

"I was trying to get a surprise attack in on that whale, and then those two first-years ruined it!" His tone is loud and abrasive, making me even angrier.

Midoriya looks on in fear, but I step up to the boy and put my hand on his head. Before he can retaliate, I activate Echolocation and begin triggering nerves to release serotonin. When I pull my hand away, I see the boy's face relax. The crease between his eyebrows slowly fades as his eyelids grow heavy.
Maybe I activated too much, I ponder as I catch him before he can faceplant. Whoops.

"Yamada," Midorya exclaims in a tiny voice as I set the boy on the ground, "what did you do?"

"I activated the serotonin in his brain. I was about to do that before the flames came for us," I explain calmly. "It should help with the pain, but he shouldn't be fighting in his current state. He could really hurt himself."

"'M fine," the boy mumbles, trying to prop himself up on his elbows and failing.

"Uh huh," I reply sarcastically. "Just take care of yourself until you heal." Turning to Midoriya, I gesture to the field before us. "The henchmen are all tripped up. I'll make sure they stay down if you can secure them. Then we'll help with evacuation."

"Got it," he says, activating his quirk. The green glow spreads around him as he takes off.

A massive heat wave circulates around Gang Orca and the two competing students. I focus on making sure the mock terrorists can't move easily. Ojiro runs by me as Midoriya takes a few henchmen out.

"Evacuation was a success," he says, still running. "Keep it up!"

Ashido and Tokoyami dash by as well. I move forward to the edge of the area so I can keep an eye on all the villains.

"Mow them down!" I hear one guy say. "Don't let up!"

Tsu comes out of nowhere to send them all crashing down with her tongue. As they fall, one last stray cement projectile comes flying towards me. I'm about to dodge, but fluffy hair wraps around me and pulls me out of the way. I recognize the Shiketsu hat atop the student covered in a thick layer of hair. He immediately sends a barrage of his hair at the attackers, getting them all tangled up.

A loud tone rings through the air, signalling the end of the exam. I finally let myself sit down, taking a long breath to calm my racing heart.

"Why did you do that?" A voice asks from behind me. Shindo has managed to sit up, though he seems wobbly and out of it still.

"I c-couldn't risk you hurting yourself when there was something I could d-do," I say softly, looking at the ground. After a moment, I stand and help him up, bringing him to the infirmary. "They'll tell you the same thing. Maybe they c-can heal you, but please try not to do anything crazy."

He sends me a small smile as he sits down on a bed. For once, his grin seems begrudgingly accepting. "Alright," is all he says before a woman approaches him and begins taking his vitals.

I go back to the locker rooms to change and await my scores.

------Author's Note------

Hey guys!!

I'm really appreciating having the extra time between updates, so I hope y'all don't mind. After all, it does mean the chapters can be longer.

Sorry if this chapter seemed a little convoluted. It's hard in scenes like these to get all the details in my head on the page. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoyed it!

Anyways, we have more fanart!!!

The amazing chapter banner was made by the lovely Juni_Penguin_!! Thank you so much, it looks adorable!!

Next is a cute little chibi Koto by JunieWeathers!! She's so adorable and precious!! I love it!! Thank you!

Here's another lovely piece from Juni_Penguin_!! I absolutely love her adaptation of Koto's hero costume with the ballerina accents! The details are immaculate! Especially down to the curls! Thank you!

And finally, we have a couple pieces by aBitGrim!! The first is a hilarious comic of Koto meeting their OC, Rose, and sd1229's OC, Kita, aka the tall girls in the U.A. Storytellers group. Of course, with Koto being so smol and thin, they'd comment on it. It's portrayed so well!! And then second, is an emotional picture of Koto meeting her younger self. It's just so touching and emotional. It's hard to imagine what she would feel, going back to a time when everything seemed normal for her. Thank you for these awesome pieces, Grim!!

And a big thanks to everyone for your support of this story! It means so much to me! Your comments always make my day!

See y'all next time!!!