Todoroki stood with his usual cold expression, icy mist swirling around him. And yet, for some reason, Kaminari felt a wave of relief at the sight of his classmate. At least, for now, he was safe.
But Kaminari quickly snapped out of it and shouted, "Why did you come back?!"
The words came out harsher than intended, especially toward someone who had just saved him. But Todoroki's return meant their exam was effectively over.
Kaminari no longer had the strength to hold All Might back. All his earlier efforts were about to go to waste.
"Because you were in a desperate situation," Todoroki replied calmly.
"Huh?" Kaminari shook his head with a bitter smile. "It's just a final exam, there's no 'desperate situation' here."
"Do you remember?"
Todoroki didn't respond directly. Instead, his gaze remained on the massive iceberg in front of them.
"Remember what?" Kaminari's golden eyebrows knit together in confusion. His initial frustration cooled slightly. At this point, he had already given up on passing the exam, so he figured he might as well listen.
"Do you remember the two choices you gave me during our first 'Indoor Battle Simulation' class?"
Kaminari froze, his mouth opening slightly but no words coming out. Of course he remembered. The memory surfaced vividly:
---
"But, Hero—the nuclear bomb inside is about to detonate. Are you really going to give up?"
"We don't have time! Choose, Hero!"
"Isn't it simple? There are only two options. Sacrifice your partner and stop the bomb, or save your partner and fight me while letting the bomb destroy the entire city."
"If it were me, I'd leave my partner behind and go straight for the bomb. Isn't that what a pro hero is supposed to do?"
---
Todoroki's voice pulled him back to the present. "Back then... I chose my partner."
His eyes shifted to Kaminari. "And this time, I made the same choice."
Kaminari's heart skipped a beat.
Todoroki's voice remained steady. "Whether it's the 'Indoor Battle Simulation' or this 'Final Exam,' the point is the same: to act like professional heroes. To think like them. To make choices like them."
The ice on his right side crackled while flames flared to life on his left. His voice grew louder, more resolute.
"So if I were a pro hero, my choice would be to come back and save you. Even if it's not the 'correct' decision."
He turned his gaze forward again, face calm but eyes burning with conviction.
---
Kaminari was speechless. The weight of Todoroki's words hit him like a sledgehammer.
Todoroki wasn't just taking an exam he was living the mindset of a hero.
Is this what Momo was talking about before?
Kaminari remembered Momo's words from earlier. Back then, he'd dismissed her advice, convinced he already understood what it meant to be strong.
But now, he saw the difference.
He thought he was above the heroes he aspired to surpass. Todoroki, on the other hand, was shaping himself into one from the ground up.
Strength without purpose was arrogance. And he'd been blind to that truth.
I've lived two lifetimes and still acted like a naive kid.
Shame flooded him. Not the humiliation from being slammed into the ground by All Might but something deeper. Real, humbling self-awareness.
And then, like the toll of a distant bell, Momo's voice echoed in his mind:
"I hope you seriously consider: should you spend your time at U.A. with the humility to learn… or with the arrogance of someone who thinks they're already better than professional heroes?"
---
Kaminari let out a shaky breath.
"I was wrong," he whispered.
Todoroki's eyes flicked toward him, confusion flashing across his face. "What?"
Crack!
Suddenly, deep fractures spread through the iceberg in front of them. A sharp, invisible force sliced it clean in two.
"Well said, Todoroki boy!"
All Might stepped out from the icy canyon, his familiar smile stretching across his face.
But when his gaze landed on Kaminari, the hand that had just split the iceberg gave a firm thumbs-up.
"And you, Kaminari boy… I'm glad you recognized your mistake. That realization can help you go Plus Ultra!"
Kaminari inhaled deeply and clenched his fists.
"'Pikachu,' recall all the golden sands," he ordered.
The AI didn't hesitate. The floating sands around the battlefield swirled together, compressing into five golden spheres that hovered in the air before returning to his waist.
"What are you doing?" Todoroki asked, surprised. "Wouldn't it be better to use those to fight?"
"It doesn't matter now," Kaminari said, eyes narrowing.
Electricity crackled across his body again, golden arcs sparking in the air.
"Let's give it everything we've got, Todoroki. One last push!"
Todoroki nodded without hesitation. "Right."
---
The two students stood side-by-side one shrouded in cold mist, the other wreathed in lightning.
In the principal's office, Nezu chuckled as he watched the scene on the monitor. "The real test is just beginning," he murmured.
---
Back in the monitoring room, Class 1-A sat in silence.
On the screen, their classmates stood defiantly against All Might, their eyes fierce with unyielding resolve.
Even Bakugo, arms crossed and lips pressed tightly together, couldn't look away.
"Kaminari... Todoroki..."
And then, almost as one, the entire class willed them forward.
"Come on!!!"