Birds of a Feather

Fight or flight?

          "We're supposed to use these terrains, right?" Karasu said as they came to a stop.

"Right," Todoroki frowned slightly. "And?"

"And, that means functionally these are real. Meaning these gas tanks have gas in them- flammable gas." She pointed to the large metal cylinders next to them. "Use your ice to form a sharp point and nearly pierce one of these. They'll show up, we'll be hidden behind these columns or walls to keep us safe, and use a stream of fire to melt the last little bit of metal not pierced by your ice. The blast will knock them out, we hit them, and we pass."

Todoroki blinked as he looked at the gas tanks. "That's... actually a pretty good plan." He waved his right hand and a spike of ice pushed against the cylinder, its point leaving an almost clear sheet of metal between it and the gas inside. He lit a wooden sign beside them on fire and grabbed her hand as they ducked behind a waiting wall. "So that they come to us faster."

The Seijin students ran up, laughing about the foolishness of the two UA students. That's when their laughter stopped.

"Oh," the one who had thrown the metal said as Todorki threw his stream of fire and exploded the tank. The force of the explosion threw them all back immediately.

"Freeze them down. We can't risk it." Karasu told Todoroki, using her staff to point.

He knelt down and touched the ground, doing as she said. "Okay. Let's pass." He stood up and smiled at her, lifting her chin gently.

Karasu blushed brightly and took his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Let's pass," she echoed him. They both stepped around the wall and quickly eliminated two students each. "Done and done." She said as they began walking away together. "You listened again, instead of bulldozing over me. Like you did with Yayurozu. That's really good, Todoroki."

"You came up with a plan that suited us both- not just you." Todoroki pointed out as he slid his fingers through hers. "We're both improving."

The targets stuck to them turned blue and a voice said "students who have passed should head to the designated rest area!"

"Perfect." Karasu sighed with relief as they walked together. "What do you think is next?" she mused, nudging Todoroki gently.

"Maybe a written test? Laws and things like that." Todoroki guessed. "We know better than most how important those are in this line of work."

"My abdominal scar would concur." She put her free hand over the spot where it was. "It would make sense to do a written portion of some kind. Hm. I guess we'll see." She looked up at him as they began to approach the designated rest area for the students who had passed.

"What?" Todoroki looked back down at her.

Karasu pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Thank you for letting me go with you for this," she told him.

"Thanks for doing it with me," he responded as he searched her face.

Their moment was interrupted by a loud and annoyingly familiar voice shouting inside.

"Crap!" Karasu sighed heavily. "Of freaking course Inasa passed already." She walked in with Todoroki and looked around. "... Apparently we're the first of our class to pass. Weird." She hummed as they sat on the couch in the room together. "Hopefully they'll all be along quickly."

カラス

"Oh, and here he comes." Karasu sighed and turned around so she was facing inward at her classmates when she spotted Inasa walking their way. "Fight or flight? Let's not get off-brand- I'll choose flight. He doesn't seem to like Todoroki," she muttered to herself, "so I'll find him and stick by him until the end of the waiting time." She pushed through the crowd of her classmates back to Todoroki. "You're my human shield for a minute, that isn't a question."