"Ah! Sero! There's one person all by themselves over to the right!" You fiddle with your helmet and lock on to them. "Got them! Let's hope it's one of our friends!"

"For sure!" Sero follows you, your hand still wrapped in his.

The two of you slowly approach the area where the single student is, and peek around the corner. "Ochako!!" You exclaim.

"Huh?! Y/n! Sero! How'd you find me?" The brunette turns towards the two of you, and notices your hand holding Sero's. She looks between you and Sero, who gives her a wide grin as he shows off. She raises her eyebrow and makes a surprised but impressed face back at him. Not noticing their silent discussion, you let go of his hand and step towards her to give her a hug. She sticks her tongue out at Sero over your shoulder as she hugs you back, and he playfully clutches his chest in feigned pain.

"I'm so glad we found you! We're looking for the others! My helmet's water sensing feature differentiates between people, so I can't see who, but I can see when people are singled out."

A boom sounds not too far away and the three of you turn your heads in the same direction. "That doesn't sound good..." Sero sighs.

You look at your helmet's sensor and see a large group of people. Two of them separate and flee from the crowd. "It might be our classmates! Two people just ran away from a crowd!"

"Right! Let's hurry then!" Uraraka and Sero nod and follow your lead. You manage to avoid any other students as you approach the area where the two individuals are hiding.

"Things are moving along quickly now! At present we have 52, no make that 53 passing examinees! One after another at this point." Mera says over the announcements. "And many students are claiming more than two victims each, considering we currently have 230 disqualified students!"

"Crap, that's more than half!" Sero says.

"Oh, there's number 54! Over half of the spots have been taken now, so let's hurry things up and finish this thing!"

You feel your heart race as you hear Mera's announcement. "If these aren't our classmates up ahead, you two take one each."

"Huh? But what about you, Y/n?!" Uraraka asks.

"I'll get the next one!! At this rate, we don't have much time left to search for the others. We'll go here, but then I think it's time to make sure we can move on! For all we know, we may be the last in our class out here!" You say.

"That's true... We don't know who has passed and who hasn't... It makes it hard to decide what to do..."

"Wait!" You whisper shout at Sero and Uraraka. They slam to a halt beside you, and you peer around the corner. Your eyes widen at the sight in front of you. Sero peeks over your head and his jaw drops. In front of you, the girl from Shiketsu is naked and lunging at Midoriya. The only thing covering her skin is a greyish hued goo that barely hides her features.

Thinking quickly, Sero launches tape at the girl, and she narrowly jumps back in time to avoid it. "Midoriya!! Just what the hell is going on over here?!"

"Sero!! Your timing couldn't be better!" Midoriya calls back.

"Now, Y/n!! Uraraka!!" Sero shouts, and you blast water from the air at the nude girl, turning it to icicles as it approaches. She easily dodges them, and Uraraka attempts to tap her with her fingertips. Amazingly, she dodges again, and she perches on a rock above.

"And things were just getting good..." The girl sighs. "Too bad, really...! For real! I wanted to talk a bit more, but it looks like that won't be possible now. Too bad."

"She really is completely naked...!" You gape. "Sero! Cover your eyes!" You slap your hands over Sero's visor and he stumbles back.

"Hey!! I wasn't checking her out!"

"Ochako Uraraka... He really does trust you." The girl sighs and suddenly jumps down behind the rock, racing away before Uraraka can register what she said.

"Hold it you perv!!" Sero pushes your hands off of his helmet, and he tries to hit her with tape, but she's already gone.

"No! Don't go after her!" Midoriya shouts. "And perv??"

"I can't believe she's really running around naked!!" You feel yourself getting second hand embarrassment and Uraraka nods. The two of you cover your chests just imagining being in her shoes.

"Jeez... What the hell is going on during this exam...?" Sero groans. "Why don't you want us to follow her, Midoriya?"

"She stripped away all of her clothes, targets included. It must have something to do with her quirk. We run the risk of having her come after us again, but given the time constraints and everything, it'll be hard to score any point off of her." Midoriya explains. "By the way... You guys are actually you, right??"

"Uhh, yeah?" Uraraka gives him a weird look.

"I saw there were two people running from a crowd with my helmet, so we all ran over here. Didn't think you'd be cosying it up with a naked girl though, Midoriya!" You laugh.

"You're one to talk." Sero elbows you. Uraraka and Midoriya look concerned, but you shake your head.

"Don't say it like that! It was totally different!! Anyways, there's four of us now. We should look for targets to take."

Midoriya shakes his head. "We should wait here for a few minutes. The group nearby has at least a dozen people, and there's a good chance they'd overpower us with numbers right now."

"A few more students have passed now, making 58 in total. Only 42 more spots are available!" Mera announces.

"Shit..." You mumble. "We can't afford to wait. We'll run out of time if we do."

"The hits just keep coming... This is looking bad..." Sero says. "I'm with Y/n. We have to take a chance and try to turn this around."

"Hmm... Well... There is something we may be able to do against them..." Midoriya stares down at the ground where you're all sitting. As he speaks, you keep an eye on the group nearby via your helmet.

"That'd be awesome! What's your plan?" Sero asks.

"I saw some of them trying to get the jump on the others earlier. They're seriously chomping at the bit to nail us here. When it's a mob targeting a small group, especially since they only think there are two of us back here, there's naturally going to be some infighting over who gets the prey."

"Ah, so when they try to get the drop on others, their numbers will decrease... Not a good move." Uraraka says.

"How are we supposed to get them, though? Even if we stick together when we fight against them, what happens if only some of us pass?" Sero asks.

"The test revolves around hitting these targets with balls, which makes it seem like it's all about aiming and throwing." Midoriya says. "But we're largely in the dark when it comes to our opponents' quirks. They're constantly moving, not to mention guarding their targets, so hitting them won't be quick or easy."

"Oh... Speaking of hitting targets..." You laugh quietly in embarrassment. "I kinda... Lost all of my balls earlier..."

"Huh?!" Everyone looks at you, and you nod.

"Did that guy take them??" Sero asks.

"No, no, they just all got knocked away while we were fighting..."

"You may be able to use one of ours. Or steal some. I mean, that one guy at the beginning got like a hundred people out all at once. No way he didn't use their balls to do it." Sero says, and Uraraka and Midoriya both nod in agreement.

"That's partially why we should just find enough enemies for all of us to pass. We can tie them up and just tap them with the balls. Between the four of us, I think we can pull this off..."

Uraraka nods at Midoriya. "With Y/n's long range attacks, and Sero's tape, we should be able to capture them."

"I get it... We've been assuming that we had to be good at throwing, but maybe this entire time, that's what we were supposed to be doing: capturing them." Sero says.

Your helmet beeps and draws your attention back to the group. "Shh! They started moving towards us!" You whisper.

Everyone goes silent for a moment, and you can hear the quiet footsteps approaching your hiding spot. Midoriya is the first to break the silence. "I'm going out there."

"Huh?!" You and Sero turn to Midoriya in surprise. "No way!!" You whisper.

"I'll be the bait." He whispers back. "Your quirks are all well-suited to limiting an opponent's mobility. Look for an opening and try to capture as many as you can!"

"You as bait, huh... With the four of us against a big group like that, it seems almost impossible..." Sero sighs. "But we'll have to try."

"If only I could generate as much ice as Shoto... Or much at all now..." You grit your teeth in annoyance.

"We'll do it." Uraraka says.

"Huh?" You and Sero turn towards her.

"We'll be fine. I trust his choice. Deku always pulls through." She smiles.

"That is true... He is one of the best students in our class when it comes to strategizing." You say. "Alright, let's do it, Midoriya."

"Perfect... Let's move!!"