Uraraka

The exam with Aoyama and Thirteen left Uraraka Ochako physically and mentally scarred. It was by pure luck that they passed when she and Aoyama struggled to grip onto a bar as Thirteen tried to suck them and turn them into dust particles.

'You like Midoriya, don't you?'

Uraraka's face bloomed bright red as the words resonated in her mind.

Why would Aoyama even suggest that?! I don't even--

When her eyes were attracted by sudden movements appearing on the large computer screens over her head, she unconsciously spotted Midoriya who, despite battered from the battle against All Might, still looked--

Attractive?! Handsome?! Why are these words popping up in my mind?!

Plagued by a severe case of 'admiration', Uraraka slapped her cheeks, trying to get rid of such ridiculous thoughts.

Maybe I should just talk to Eria about this. Maybe she knows what to do.

As Midoriya and Bakugou's battle almost coming to an end, a crowd grew within the control room. All eyes were fixated on the computer screens, and when the duo was declared winners, all let out sighs of relief. While some were still healing in the medical bay, everyone else in Class 1-A who were conscious made it to the room, anticipating for the final battle. It became the talk of the class the moment it was decided—Todoroki and Takasaki against an outsider pro-hero.

Uraraka was guilt-ridden since then. As Takasaki's best friend, she failed to volunteer herself to help out her friend when she needed it the most. Uraraka knew her quirk was never the best nor the strongest, but she was quite afraid that participating the exam for the second time would cost she and Takasaki's grades—something she could never afford to lose.

I need to compensate her later. I'll buy her fruits parfait! She loves desserts!

"Look! It's about to start!" said Kirishima, who recovered from his exam.

"I just hope both of them pass," said Ojirou.

"They'll pass. They are both strong," added Jirou.

"I believe in both of them too, but that mysterious hero......" Asui said, feeling concerned. "Who is he?"

The computer screen showed both of their classmates making their way to the exit of the large forest compound. Soon, they stopped and hid behind a large boulder after realising someone was standing by the exit.

"Who's that? Is that the hero?" asked Ashido. "He looks.... weird."

"Why is he wearing a mask? I've never seen him before," commented Iida.

Uraraka commented nothing. Nervousness racked her body. She didn't know the hero. What if he was super strong? What if her friends failed?

"OH MY GOD! AM I LATE?"

A voice drew everyone's attention. Standing by the entrance of the control room was a woman with long wavy black hair clad in a black jumpsuit. She resembled someone Uraraka knew. But what drew everyone's attention was the gleaming golden ram horns on her head that reminded everyone of a classmate.

"Mrs. Takasaki? What are you doing here?" asked Iida.

"Oh. I'm so sorry. I got caught up in a villain scuffle downtown just now. Had to interfere and punch that obnoxious idiot in the gut for threatening to blow up a bank."

The class continued to look at her quizzically.

"Oh! I'm invited here as the so-called mysterious hero against my own daughter! I should actually wear a mask or something, to look mysterious."

Uraraka barely understood what was going on. But judging from the grim looks on her friends, it was barely a good situation.

Finally, after an awkward silence, someone spoke the words everyone dreaded to hear.

"If she is the mystery guest hero, then... who is Takasaki and Todoroki fighting against?"

***

Eria

No.

No.

No.

This is all just a dream. Just some nightmare. Everything is not real.

It's not real.

IT'S NOT REAL.

I couldn't see, hear or feel anything. My senses were all numb. The scene of Todoroki dying kept replaying in my mind. I couldn't block it. Fear and pain gestated within me, and soon anger and guilt also joined in the party.

What should I do? I didn't know. Saving Todoroki was my priority, but everything was disoriented. How could I save him? How?

"So, are you going to stand there and watch me kill your little friend here, demon?"

The voice sounded mechanic, as if it was altered with a voice changer.

I snapped back into the horrifying reality.

"If you want to save him, show me everything you got, demon."

Yes, I have to save him. I must save him. I need to use everything I got.

Everything.

Determination flared within me as the painful surge of power took over my entire body. I forced the entirety of my quirk into activation, especially that dreaded white-haired demon of mine.

This is the only way. Even if I lose control, I must save Todoroki.

I must.

"Takasaki."

A soft voice whispered my name among the chaotic thoughts in my mind.

No, I must focus. The horns appeared on my forehead. The scales grew on my forearms. My hair was turning snow white.

"Takasaki. Takasaki."

Stop calling my name. I need to focus! I need to save Todoroki, or he will die. I can't let him die. I can't--

"Takasaki, stop!"

Someone roughly shook me by my shoulders. My vision worsened and everything seemed blurry. I blinked and finally my vision was back.

I was staring into a pair of heterochromatic eyes; the right eye was ever a cloudy grey, but the left was a beautiful turquoise blue.

"To-todoroki?"

On his perfectly flawless face was a rare emotion: fear. "Takasaki, are you okay?" His gentle voice was soothing.

"W-what... what's going on? Are you... alive? Or I'm......dead?" I sank into confusion. My mind was too disoriented to understand a thing.

"We're alive," he said. But it barely calmed my nerves.

I looked down at his abdomen, where I clearly remembered the spot the dagger was driven into. There was no sign of blood anywhere. His dark blue hero costume was clean.

"But I saw you... I saw you die...... I don't even... know what's going on..." I trembled, unable to differentiate between reality and lies.

"I didn't die. Nothing happened. We were just standing here, until you decided to wake your white-haired demon out of nowhere."

I......what?

I tried to activate the white-haired demon out of nowhere?

"But that hero...... he tried to kill you..." I looked around wearily, only to find the masked hero standing by the exit, right where we had found him from the beginning.

The involuntary shivers that racked my body worsened. My blood ran cold. Was everything I just saw......a lie?

Todoroki had everything figured out bit by bit. "You implanted an illusion within her mind, didn't you?"

The masked hero scoffed. "I just wanted to show the demon what I want to show her." It was the same mechanic voice that spurred me to activate my quirk.

I covered my ears. I didn't want to hear anything or see anything. I wished I could be blind or deaf. It was too horrifying to realise I could not differentiate which was real and which was not.

Seeing I was having a mental breakdown, Todoroki tightened his grip on my shoulders. "Look at me, Takasaki."

I shook my head.

"Takasaki, look at me!" Todoroki demanded.

His loud voice frightened me, but I complied.

"Everything you just saw was an illusion. It's not real. But this exam is real. If you don't pull yourself together, we'll both fail."

Right. This is an exam. That was just an illusion. This is a real exam.

"I'm here, so trust me, okay?" Todoroki's eyes showed concern. His gentle yet calming stare somehow soothed my rickety nerves.

"Okay," I finally spoke, though my voice croaked. I relaxed myself and put all my trust in my friend, just like I always did. "I trust you."

Out of nowhere, a deafening crack of thunder filled the air. Something swished past Todoroki's head, grazing a bit of his hair.

The masked hero held a pistol in his hand which was still steaming from the gunshot he had fired earlier. "Cut this stupid crap and get this over with, demon, or I'll kill you friend here for real."

"Looks like your quirk is only creating illusions and you need a gun to be on the offensive side. I thought you'd be a powerful hero for this exam," said Todoroki, who was slightly irked.

The masked hero scoffed. "The power of illusions is beyond your imagination. And besides, who said anything about an exam?"

That didn't sound good. All alarms rang within my head, signalling a bad omen.

Instantaneously, Todoroki conjured a large ice wall, the one he created during the Sports Festival, and barricaded the masked hero from us. He grabbed me and pulled me away, back into the forest and away from the exit. After making sure no one was around, we stopped to catch a breath.

"Is that guy...... a villain?" I asked.

Todoroki frowned. "I think so."

"I thought this school is supposed to be safe. Why is this happening again?"

"I don't know. Where are the teachers when we need them? We can't engage in battle just like what we did with Stain."

"Then we should just run? This forest compound is huge and there's no way out except that exit back there," I said. Panic had begun to consume me again.

Suddenly, a thought hit me.

I backed away from Todoroki. "This is real, right? You're not an illusion, right?"

Todoroki looked at me. He looked slightly hurt, but somehow he looked more grim. "I thought I told you to trust me." He clenched his fists. "That villain's quirk...... it's starting to confuse me too. Takasaki, you're real, right?"

Two best friends starting to suspect each other amidst the crisis was never a good thing. We stared at each other vigilantly, unsure of everything around us, including each other.

After a while of silence, Todoroki compromised. "You're my best friend. I should trust you."

Todoroki, now is not the time to be so trusting! You should suspect me at all costs!

"Takasaki, I need you to trust me right now. I know it's hard after what happened just now, but please..." Todoroki's legs almost moved but stay glued to the ground.

"Then prove to me you're real," I said.

He nodded. "Can I come closer?"

I nodded. Todoroki was now a few feet from me.

"Now, touch me."

Wait, what?

I looked at him wide-eyed, thinking I might be hallucinating.

Todoroki sighed. He grabbed my right hand and pressed it against his left cheek. Electricity shocked me as I jumped from the abrupt contact. I struggled to retrieve my hand but he wouldn't let go.

Congratulations, Todoroki, if this is your way of flirting and courting, you have succeeded brilliantly! Though, I doubt he even thinks of it this way! HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Now let go of me before I do something really stupid!

"See, I'm real," Todoroki said nonchalantly, unaware of the blooming red in my cheeks. I tried hard not to even look at him, but his eyes were too magnetic and too alluring. I couldn't pull myself away from them. The warmth I felt from his soft, flawless cheek was too comforting; I think I could just touch it forever.

I finally managed to pull my hand away and turned around to hide my embarrassing red cheeks. "Yeah you're real," I uttered.

"Okay, now let's figure a way to get out of here."

Stupid Todoroki. You're just too smart and also too dense in the same time. Stop shaking my maiden heart!

"Do you think if we stay here long enough the teachers will find us?" I asked.

"Maybe, but I don't want to take the risk of letting the villain find us."

"Is he really a villain, or is he just a hero in disguise? I don't even know what's real and what's not," I voiced out my confusion.

Todoroki sighed. "Let's just assume he is a villain and we cannot get caught. Our only hope is heading back to the exit. Let's just go--"

My Sixth Sense tingled. I pushed Todoroki out of the way before a large boulder fell onto the both of us. The boulder crushed my left foot and left me in agonising pain.

"Takasaki!" Todoroki tried to rush to my side but a gunshot grazed his left cheek.

"Stay where you are and defend yourself!" I shouted, unable to ascertain where the shooter was. My quirk activated itself in order to ease the pain, but having my bones crushed was not a mere pain.

"That demon is not enough," said the mechanic voice that I abhorred. The masked villain walked out from a row of trees, gun in hand.

What the hell does that even mean?

I stared at the villain and realised something. The villain could not have moved a boulder out of nowhere if his quirk was only illusions. Which means--

The alarms of my Sixth Sense blared in my mind. "Todoroki, above you!"

A person wielding a dagger appeared in the air above Todoroki and slashed at him. Barely escaping the attack, he still managed to cover himself with ice and forced the attacker to retreat with his flames.

"There's two of them now?" Todoroki retreated to my side.

The other villain wielded a dagger, and it reminded me of Stain. He was also cloaked, and his face was barely visible under his hood.

A gun and a dagger, great.

The cloaked villain threw a dagger at Todoroki. I quickly parried it with my scaled forearms but the dagger seemed to have vanished in thin air, and then came a grunt of pain behind me. The dagger was lodged in Todoroki's left shoulder as he began to bleed.

"How did it--"

Another dagger lodged into Todoroki's right arm, as if it had appeared like magic.

"Teleporting quirk," Todoroki quickly hypothesised. "That explains the boulder, and how they could enter the school."

"What about the alarms? They should be effective," I said. I was desperate to end this whole crisis fast. The longer this dragged on, the more dangerous it would be for us. "I need to get you out of here."

"They have a teleporting quirk. No matter how far we run, they'll chase up to us."

I looked at Todoroki's wounds. My heart ached to see how vulnerable he was and how useless I was. Even if I used myself as a shield, there was nothing to stop the villain from hurting him.

"Should I end this fast or end this slow?" said the cloaked villain, with his voice altered from a voice changer. "I could put that dagger in his heart and end this fast. It'll wake the demon for sure."

Adrenaline coursed through my vein as my heart thrashed around in my ribcage like it was trying to escape. Little hairs stood all over my arms and goosebumps popped out like mushrooms after a rain. My breathing was getting heavy and my thoughts were sluggish as fear overwhelmed me.

We could die here.

I realised I was shaking when Todoroki's hand grabbed onto mine. We won't die today, his eyes told me. I won't let us die.

I squeezed his hand back to tell him I believed him, despite the odds.

It's now or never.

I let go of Todoroki's hand and awakened the demon I dreaded the most.

All the features of the white-haired demon easily appeared, as if it has acknowledged my will to live. With my wings widely spread on my back, I grabbed Todoroki and soared into the air, though manoeuvring would still need some practice. Todoroki grunted in pain but resisted.

Our destination was to go back to the main school building, where all the teachers would be. Suddenly, pain coursed through my body as daggers broke through my thin leathery wings. We swayed in the air like a loose kite and started to fall to the ground. I pulled Todoroki into my embrace as we crashed through the thick canopy and got stuck onto a large tree branch by luck.

My wings were no longer functional but at least my white hair remained and so was my sanity. However, I doubted I could keep the demon in check for long.

"You alright?" Todoroki said between breaths. His face twisted in pain as the bleeding on his wounds continued.

I shook my head. My crushed foot was getting more painful by the second. I could hear my heart beating in my ears.

"What should we do now?" I whispered.

"Keep on running," he replied.

"Come on out, demon."

I sharply inhaled. That mechanic voice sent chills down my spine. Todoroki clamped my mouth and pressed his face next to mine. Even though he seemed calm, one could tell how horrified he was from the fear in his eyes.

"Your hidden demon's awake. Time to play." Every footstep made my blood run cold.

"Come on out and show me what a true demon can do." The voice was getting closer.

"Come out, demon! Come out, Lucifer!"

The footsteps stopped. The voice went silent. Our heartbeats stopped.

"Looks like I've found you, Lucifer."

Shit.

Ice enveloped both of us and froze the entire tree we were on, right down to its roots. The masked villain jumped away, but the fast-moving ice froze his feet and glued him to the ground.

Seeing the villain exposed, by instinct I would have charged at him and tore his neck off but the other teleporting villain posed a severe risk. If I leave this ice cocoon, Todoroki could be hurt.

As if he too realised the same thing, Todoroki gripped onto my hand. "Don't go," he muttered. "We need to run."

I reluctantly agreed with him.

My Sixth Sense tingled, warning me someone was close. Someone stood on top of the frozen tree, staring right at our ice cocoon. The light from the dagger he played in his hand was lethal.

Shit!

Then, a deafening gunshot was fired. The cloaked villain swayed and appeared unsteady. More gunshots were fired and the villain was hit.

Those gunshots felt like......

Suddenly, the earth rumbled and shattered all the ice. The tree we were hanging on with dear life tumbled onto the ground. When I lifted my head from the tree branches, I saw my mother—a very pissed off mother—standing in front of me. Instantly, relief washed over me.

"You alright, kids?" Thirteen asked gently as he helped us to our feet.

The tiny principal, Nezu popped up behind Thirteen's head. "You kids, thank god you're okay!"

I have never felt so glad in my life to see my teachers.

"Are you assholes the ones who hurt my daughter?" my mother hissed through her clenched jaw. She stepped closer to the masked villain, with every step crushing the earth beneath her feet.

I felt relieved and at the same time, glad my mother was finally here to show the villains some manners.

KICK THEIR ASSES, MOM!

The cloaked villain appeared beside of the masked villain, attempting to escape. He touched his companion but nothing happened. They were not teleporting away.

Another furious teacher, Aizawa-sensei had his quirk activated with his red eyes and his hair swept back from his face. "Dark Rose, don't kill them. We need them alive."

Dark Rose clicked her tongue. "Fine."

Seeing they were cornered, the mask villain took out a few ball-like objects from his pocket and threw them in the sky. It exploded in a white flash of light, blinding everyone.

When the light ebbed, the two villains were long gone. I was already exhausted from the pain in my feet, the panic attack from the illusions and the awakening my hidden demon that I collapsed to the ground, nearly fainting.

Todoroki looked at me, concerned. I gave him a thumbs-up to reassure him, but his eyebrows furrowed.

My mother carried me on her back to the medical bay, where Midoriya and Bakugou were still unconscious. Our classmates came to visit us, but our teachers refused to divulge much information to them. However, deep down, they knew this was another villain attack.

Even though the villains were gone, the illusions and the villains haunted me for the whole night. I couldn't sleep, afraid that when I opened my eyes, I would see them—I would see Todoroki die before me again.

My mom had stayed by my side for the whole night and my father had returned from his work in the hospital to accompany me. At least, I could feel safe for the night.

But I had a feeling this was not over.

It was just the beginning.  

***

Dear all, i know you love this story, but really, please be patient for my updates. Writing is not my job, it's just my hobby so i could only do it when i'm free. Hope you guys understand :) I'm still writing the next chapter so it won't be out so early, kay? 

Thank you for understanding. Love you guys :) 

A vote a day keeps a smile on Todoroki's face.