Content warning:

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Izuku was smiling as he walked back towards the benched pair.

"How was it?" He asked Lila.

"Zuku, you already know it was perfect. Why are you asking me?"

"Mhm. Well, moving on, do you want to catch lunch with Shinso and I?" Izuku said as he grabbed his dufflebag. The lunch meet up was agreed upon earlier that morning in lieu of the beach cleanup.

"Sure. That would be great!" Lila said, standing up and helping Shinso do the same.

"Where should we go?" Shinso asked as he grabbed his backpack and put it on, "They have a lot of good restaurants near here."

As they decided where to go, they watched the rest of the dance group do their routines.

"I know this place that's cheap but has really good takoyaki. They even let you request extra veggies." Shinso suggested.

"That sounds good to me. Izuku?"

"Sure. That sounds good."

----

"Mmmhm~"

"Izuku!" Lila said between her roaring laughter, "You can't make noises like that in public!"

Izuku finished swallowing. "Well, excuse me, this food is delicious!"

"Still!"

Shinso looked like he was having an aneurysm in the corner. As Izuku looked over he could see blush, most likely from embarrassment he told himself, covering Shinso's face from the tips of his ears to his collarbone.

Still laughing, Lila leaned over to whisper in Izuku's ear. "You're blushing~"

"Am not!"

"Your cheeks say you're lying!"

Izuku playfully pushed Lila's face away as Shinso pulled himself together and got back into his seat.

"You know... I could add Shinso to the dance group chat if you guys wanted to join..."

"Really? I thought it was limited to dance group members only." Shinso said.

"It is, except we can add someone on popular vote if we want. Give me a sec..."

She messed around on her phone for a while before asking Shinso for his phone number. Upon receiving it she went back to messing on her phone. A minute later, Shinso's phone pinged.

"Oh my god, you really did it!" Shinso said, surprised.

"Now the whole group can remind you to stretch!" Izuku chimed in. Shinso lightly shoved him away.

----

Back at Izuku's house, the two boys got back to work on packaging orders.

"Did you get the location for the big one yet?" Shinso asked. The buyer requested they deliver it themselves since the package held so much value. Thankfully, the location was in the same prefecture as them, so they didn't have to travel to terribly far.

"Yeah. Mom says we can drop it off later today."

"That's kind of shady isn't it?"

"Yeah, but apparently they are a hardcore collector. They have a reputation for buying the most elusive all-might stuff off of sites like this."

"Okay, but I want to come with you just in case."

"Shinso..." Izuku gave him a concerned look.

"Please? I couldn't live with myself if you got hurt and I could of prevented it."

"... okay."

----

The drop off was successful. The building they dropped it off at was very tall, Almost reaching the height of a small office building. It didn't have any defining features other than the building number.

----

A couple more months later, Izuku was ready for the entrance exam, or at least Shinso and his mom thought he was. He did admit that he had gained a fair amount of muscle and flexibility.

Their endeavor to clean up the beach was nearly accomplished. He and Shinso only needed a few more weeks at most.

He was able to join the mastery class in the studio. Shinso had finally passed the beginners and intermediate classes, and is now in the proficient class despite his distain for stretching.

Lila was insistent on playfully pestering the two when they weren't at the studio, much to the boys' chagrin.

Shinso finally told Inko about his quirk, to which she gave him a hug and said that she would support him in any way she could. This lead him to sharing a bit about his living situation. Inko now gave him reheatable meals and left overs when he left for home, and she also urged him to stay over as much as possible, believing that Shinso's parents worked alot.

Inko bought and renovated the storefront for her home restaurant. The three of them decided on the name: Safe Space. She was aiming to have a subtle space theme across the establishment. It is a neutral zone establishment. Inko thought this would be a good idea considering that it was verging on being in downtown, yet still in uptown area. There was a rules and bans sheet written on doors to make it clear to newcomers that this is a place to relax, not mess around.

----

All of this passed by in a blur, if you asked Izuku. He was having so much fun that when exam day arrived, it smacked him across the face with that gut wrenching feeling he associated with anxiety.

"Don't worry. You have this in the bag. If anything I'm the one who should be worried." Shinso said while sitting next to him on the train.

"Don't say that! You put as much work into this as I have. We both have something to prove." Izuku leaned over and gripped his bag.

"But it's true, isn't it? Everywhere I have looked, people are saying that it is geared toward powerful flashy quirks. Some even say they use robots. How am I going to beat that?"

"I know you saw the recent news. UA announced that they are changing the entrance exam this year. We might not have to fight robots at all."

Izuku gripped his bag tighter. He sure hoped he wouldn't have too.

----

It seemed as though whatever diety above decided to stop being a bitch to him.

The written and multiple choice exams were relatively easy, especially when he got to the heroics law questions and the argumentative paragraph. He ended up writing more than just a paragraph.

Then it was time for the heroics portion of the exam.

All of the heroics examines were ushered into the auditorium where Present Mike started to explain the test.

Izuku was seated next to Shinso because they were both labeled as homeschooled on the paperwork. Izuku's breathing nearly shorted when he saw Bakugo two rows down. Shinso noticed his line of sight, deduced what was happening, and offered his hand. Izuku quickly grasped it as he tried to listen to the instructions.

According to Present Mike, the new heroics exam was sectioned into three parts; rescue, stealth, and combat.

In the rescue portion, they would have to rescue dummies from the exam area and bring them to a designated safe space marked with a red cross. They would be redacted points if they severely injured the dummy or attacked other examines.

In the stealth portion, they would have to rescue dummies or objects from hostage situations. The same rules applied.

In the combat section, they would be battling robots. There were four types.

As Present Mike was explaining the combat section, a stiff blue-haired examine stood up and started yelling from across the auditorium for Izuku to, in short, shut up. He then had the audacity to start yelling at Present Mike for not finishing his explanation.

Present Mike was quick to finish his explanation, saying that the last robot was something they should just avoid.

Then, he said something not many people in the room expected: they would be working in teams.

They were split into teams of five. Thankfully, Izuku was paired with Shinso. They were also paired with a bubbly girl named Uraraka, the stiff boy from earlier named Iida, and a blunt girl who preferred to be called Tsu.

Izuku sighed a breath of relief. Once they finished introducing themselves and their quirks, the first part of the test began.

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AN:

Thanks for reading chapter 21!

Sorry I didn't get this out earlier! My family is still in the process of moving, and the new school year just started.

I will try to get these out as early as possible. I might have to limit it to once every two weeks depending on how difficult the homework is.