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…
Less than a minute later, Suzaku arrived at the zone where the 0-pointer currently was. Frowning faintly once he saw it.
It was moving fast, despite its enormous size. And as it moved, it left behind a path of destruction that made Suzaku sweatdrop a little bit. Wondering how the heck the school could afford to destroy so many buildings like they were free stuff.
-Bang!-
Nevertheless, he didn't let those thoughts wander too much in his head, and, not even bothering to go over his plan one more time to make sure it was flawless, he kicked open the door of one of the several buildings around and began going up the stairs until he arrived at the rooftop.
Once there, Suzaku looked at an adjacent building that was around the same height as the one where he was right now and immediately began sprinting with all he had. Crossing the distance between the two buildings with just one jump, similar to how a certain guy with spider powers had done in a movie scene.
He didn't stop there, however, as he repeated the process several times until he was finally able to close the distance between the giant robot and himself to around 15 meters.
"If I fall, I'll probably break something… So, all I have to do is not fall…" Once there, Suzaku muttered in an unsure tone, glancing down the building where he was and laughing a little at the huge distance between himself and the floor.
However, he quickly shrugged his hesitation aside with a shake of his head and grinned confidently.
"It's just jumping 15 meters… Should be easy enough"
So, having determined himself, Suzaku took a deep breath and took several steps backward, before he began sprinting at full speed towards the giant.
-Bang!-
Then, once he was at the border of the building, his feet fiercely kicked the concrete like a shotgun and propelled him swiftly into the air.
For a moment, Suzaku thought he wouldn't be able to make it. Since his speed seemed to be insufficient.
However, he was quickly relieved when he saw himself getting closer and closer to the 0-pointer. All until—
-Clang!-
"Oof!"
—he ended up crashing rather painfully with it.
Fortunately, despite the rather forceful landing, Suzaku still managed to grab onto it.
And, once he stabilized himself, he didn't hesitate for a second and rapidly took out the iron bar he had and began using it as leverage to open apart the thick metal carcass covering the robot. Making the metallic alloy of the giant metaphorically scream in pain.
-Creeeeaaak!-
"What… an annoyingly thick guy!" Suzaku said under heavy gasps. Using a lot of his strength to bend the metal open.
The carcass resisted thoroughly, apparently being a lot thicker than the ones from the smaller robots. However, after a minute or so of constant struggle, it finally yielded under Suzaku's strength.
{"2 minutes remaining!"}
And, as if urging him to hurry up, immediately after he managed to make a fissure on the robot, the voice of the rockstar teacher announced the incoming ending of the exam and made Suzaku erase any idea about thinking this through.
"Alright, it's Virusaku-time" Suzaku grinned.
Thus, not wasting any more time, Suzaku squeezed through the fissure he had created on the metal carcass of the 0-pointer and got inside it. Aiming to destroy the robot from the inside.
-Thud!-
"Well, damn"
However, upon reaching its interior, he noticed that the robot was filled with metal pipes and several other machinery that obstructed his way. Making it so that reaching the vital part of the robot would be harder than he expected.
"I'm gonna destress a lot here…"
Though, that wasn't going to stop him.
…
°
°
°
|Outside of the 0-pointer|
…
Itsuka Kendo could be seen running hurriedly away from the giant 0-pointer, all while carrying a bunch of examinees on each of her gigantified hands.
Sweat ran through her forehead, feeling tired of carrying so many people at once while running away from the giant robot.
Her Quirk facilitated her to perform such rescue actions. However, the amount of people she was carrying was still considerably heavy for her at the moment.
Fortunately, despite the weight, she was still fast enough to outrun the 0-pointer… Or at least, to make enough distance until the exam ended, which was about to happen.
"Huff…"
While she continued to escape, she gave a quick glance at the robot they were supposed to avoid according to what the hero Present Mic had advised, remembering what the red-haired boy had said about taking it down.
After he disappeared while running in its direction, she didn't see him anymore.
She wondered if he had run away, which would explain his strange reactions when she had mentioned coming to help others.
Still, she didn't let that thought bother her much.
She was not in a situation where she could worry about other things. Her focus was all on keeping the examinees on her hands safe and dodging any falling rubble that the 0-pointer may drop on them during its advance.
It was already a stroke of luck that the giant had not noticed her when she had arrived at the scene. After all, from what she had seen earlier when she had been at a prudent distance, the 0-pointer would launch catastrophic punches whenever it detected a group of examinees in the vicinity.
This was what was leading her to not get too far away from its wheels at the moment despite the danger of being crushed under it, as she figured out that the 0-pointer seemed to be unable to detect her and others while being in the area below it.
Her plan for the moment was to continue moving along the robot while being in its blind spot. That way, she would reach the end of the exam without becoming its target.
'Less than a minute…' She estimated the time that had passed since the previous announcement, letting out a brief sigh of relief once the end seemed to be around the corner.
Not much seemed to be left before she would finally be able to rest.
However, just as Itsuka was thinking that everything would go smoothly, she noticed that something seemed to be strange.
And she quickly realized what it was.
'Why—why don't I hear the 0-pointer moving behind me?!'
When she hurriedly turned around, Itsuka saw the robot standing several meters away from her.
It seemed that as a result of being too engrossed in her thoughts, she failed to realize that the 0-pointer had stopped moving a few moments ago.
And now that she had gotten too far away from it, she was also no longer in its blind spot.
"Darn it"
Confused and startled, Itsuka stood still for a moment, not knowing what to do in such a situation.
However, just as she was about to ignore it and continue running regardless, she saw the 0-pointer raise its metallic fist and prepare to launch one of its devastating punches at her.
"...!"
As such, once the gravity of her situation dawned on her, she immediately dropped all the examinees to the ground and swiftly moved her giant hands to the front to protect all of them from the incoming impact.
-Bzzzt!-
However, just as she was gritting her teeth while expecting the attack to arrive, her eyes caught sight of the 0-pointer's arm unexpectedly falling powerlessly to its side. As if it had lost all strength all of a sudden.
Things didn't end there, though, since soon its other arm also fell, followed by an enormous amount of smoke that began to leak from its insides.
-Tsssssss…!-
Seeing that, Itsuka frowned in confusion.
However, her bewilderment only grew bigger when the robot suddenly hunched forward, as if its body had also begun malfunctioning.
"What in the world—?"
It was only when she saw its characteristic glowing red eye abruptly lose its light, that she understood the 0-pointer was losing its energy.
"Wha—?!"
She didn't have much time to ponder about the reason for such an event, though, since as a result of the 0-pointer suddenly losing its power, it began collapsing down on her. Prompting her to grab all the examinees in a hurry and do her best to get out of the way.
"Ah!"
-Booom!!-
Fortunately for her, she managed to escape by a hair's breadth from being crushed. Though, she along with the rest of the injured teenagers still ended up having to roll through the ground as a result of the impact that such a heavy robot caused upon collapsing.
Still, some scratches were better than being flattened. So that was that.
Once the enormous dust cloud that rose from the impact subsided, Itsuka, who was lying on the ground confused, looked up at the robot. Wondering why it had suddenly malfunctioned.
{"Time's… Up!!"}
However, the voice of Present Mic announcing the end of the exam ultimately snapped her out of her daze. Causing her to widen her eyes as she realized everything had finally ended.
As relief invaded her mind, she turned to look at the collapsed robot.
'Did a teacher turn it off since the exam ended?'
Naturally, such a thought crossed her mind. Otherwise, why else would it have malfunctioned so suddenly, and right before the exam ended?
However, not having anyone to confirm it, she quickly shook her head and shrugged the matter aside.
After all, with the end of the exam, another problem began bothering her.
"I wasted too much time… I don't think I got enough points" She muttered while tightening one of her fists, which had come back to its normal size. Feeling slightly regretful of having been swayed by her emotions after deciding to help others instead of focusing on defeating more villain-bots.
As a result of that, she did not get nearly as many villain points as others had done.
Now, as a result of her naivety, her failure on the exam was almost guaranteed.
She would not become a hero.
"Okay, good work everyone—... Well, would you look at this? I wonder who managed to take it down… Was it you, girl?"
However, just as Itsuka was beginning to look sad, a certain feminine voice sounded from a few meters away and startled her.
"...?"
When she turned around, she saw a small granny in a nurse-like suit walking towards her, looking with a faint surprise at the giant 0-pointer lying next to Itsuka.
"No… It wasn't me" She denied, looking with confusion at the sudden appearance of whoever the granny was.
"Mua"
However, she was quickly surprised when the granny leaned down to kiss her on the forehead.
"What are you—?"
She was about to ask her what she was doing, but before she could do so, Itsuka noticed her injuries and fatigue going away right away after the kiss. Making her let out a surprised gasp.
After healing her, the granny turned towards the other examinees and began kissing them as well. Healing their injuries and rendering them finally able to walk.
Once that was done, she approached Itsuka once again and glanced curiously at the collapsed robot in front of her.
"Well, what a strange event. Normally, after the exam ends the 0-pointer should automatically stop moving. However, it shouldn't have collapsed like this…"
Then, as she caressed her chin in contemplation, she turned to look at Itsuka, wondering if she had any idea of why this happened.
However, she quickly noticed her faintly sad expression. Prompting her to ask her "What's wrong girl?".
"I wasted too much time helping others instead of fighting robots. I don't think I passed the exam" Itsuka answered, hanging her head down.
However, she suddenly received a pat on the shoulder from the granny, making her look at her with confusion.
"I wouldn't worry too much about that if I were you… While collecting villain points was important, other aspects were put into consideration during the exam"
Hearing that, Itsuka's eyes widened as a faint light of hope appeared within them.
-Bang!-
However, before she had the chance to ask what the granny had meant by that, a loud noise startled her, and everyone else around.
It had come from the 0-pointer's big red eye.
-Bang!-
When everyone turned to look in worry, the noise repeated.
-BANG!!-
-Tssssssss…-
And, just as some were beginning to prepare for a possible incoming fight, the eye exploded. Letting out an enormous amount of smoke from inside.
-Cough, cough-
However, surprisingly, what came from inside the robot, aside from the smoke, was a red-haired teenager, whose face had some faint burns in it and who was coughing violently with a look of displeasure on his face.
Once he was out, the young man grunted in annoyance, before he glanced at the robot below his feet, and let out a wry laugh.
"0-pointer? More like, uh... 0 chances against Suzaku—No, that's not it… Ahem. You should have installed an antiviru—…No, that's lame as well… Uhm, Argh! Whatever, I'm not good with this"
After yelling in frustration, the young man jumped from the robot and landed in front of Itsuka and the granny.
And, once he noticed both, he smirked.
"Well, well, well, it seems like Suzaku saves the day once aga—"
-Thud!-
He fell face to the ground before he could even finish speaking, however.
"..."
"..."
After seeing his weird entrance, both of them stayed silent in bafflement as they glanced at the fallen Suzaku.
The granny even poked his unconscious body with her walking stick.
However, in the end, she muttered something with an amused face.
"It seems he inhaled too much smoke while inside the 0-pointer. He should be fine in a few minutes"
"Huh…" That was all Itsuka was able to say, looking at the red-haired boy in front of her with curiosity.
It seemed like, just as he had stated a few minutes ago, he actually managed to take down the 0-pointer on his own.
'Just who is he?'
…
-To be continued…-
(A/N: And thus, the practical exam ends... For the most part.
Some among us wisdom: As the proverb says, the susser they are, the harder they are ejected)
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