Chapter 60

The workplace training is behind them, June is nearly out, and Class 1-A has seven days left before their end of term test. Denki Kaminari and Mina Ashido confess they have barely opened a book, blaming a semester crowded with incidents, and Fumikage Tokoyami sides with them. Rikido Sato warns that this round will bite harder than the mid-terms. Minoru Mineta needles the pair about the exercise portion being rough, a joke that only works because his own marks are fine, which irritates them further. Izuku Midoriya, fourth in the class, urges the two to push, since he wants everyone at the forest lodge together. Tenya Ida, second, adds his encouragement, while Shoto Todoroki, fifth, remarks dryly that attending class normally would have spared them the trouble.

Momo Yaoyorozu, the top student overall, offers to tutor, though the practical worries even her. Mashirao Ojiro, Kyoka Jiro and Hanta Sero take her up on it, and the request leaves her flushed with pride. When Eijiro Kirishima calls her generous, Katsuki Bakugo insists he is generous too and promises to drill Eijiro until he bleeds, an offer Eijiro was expecting from the third-ranked student.

Over lunch, Izuku, Tenya, Shoto, Ochaco Uraraka, Tsuyu Asui and Toru Hagakure size up their odds. The written papers seem manageable; the practical is a blank. Neito Monoma bumps into Izuku, then works the apology into a jab about how the Hero Killer encounter boosted Class 1-A's profile. Itsuka Kendo floors him mid-gloat, apologizes on his behalf, and gives the secret away: the practical is a robot battle simulation, just like the Entrance Exam, intelligence she got from an upperclassman. Neito, still on the ground, complains she has squandered the advantage he meant to use against 1-A; she drags him off with another hit and reminds him they do not hate the other class.

Izuku relays the news, delighting Denki and Mina, and Mezo Shoji notes their joy comes from not having to calibrate their Quirks for living opponents. Katsuki tears into them until they fall silent, then rounds on Izuku, telling him he is becoming an irritant. Ochaco reads it correctly: this is about how Izuku moved during Foundational Hero Studies. Katsuki refuses a repeat of the hollow finish at the Sports Festival and declares that grades will settle which of them is the better man, promising to expose the gulf between them and to beat Shoto besides, before storming out. Eijiro observes it has been a while since he was this worked up, Fumikage judges that his hostility is running him, and Shota Aizawa, watching him pass, thinks he has only gotten worse.

The week is spent studying. Momo's group takes in Denki, Kyoka, Hanta, Mina and Mashirao, and her lecturing pays off when the whole class clears the written papers. Then the day of the practical arrives, with 1-A assembled outdoors alongside a wall of U.A. faculty. Shota concedes they have obviously heard something, and Mina and Denki confidently shout that it will be robots. Principal Nezu springs out of his scarf to tell them otherwise.

Nezu explains the change: the recent villain surge has pushed the school to sharpen its training and give students real combat mileage, so U.A. simulations will now mirror actual battles, with Class 1-A the first group to face the new format. Students will be split into pairs, and each pair will fight one of their own teachers. The matchups are already set. Shoto and Momo draw Shota Aizawa. Izuku and Katsuki are put together, to the horror of both, and their opponent is All Might, who tells the pair they will need to work as one to bring him down.

The 19-page chapter ran in issue 44, 2015 on September 28, 2015, was collected in Volume 7, and was adapted as Episode 34. Locations include U.A. High School, the Class 1-A room and the Lunch Rush Cafeteria; the Capturing Weapon and Grenadier Bracers appear, and the First Term Final Exam begins. Horikoshi's author comment admits he still cannot pin down Ochaco's or Kaminari's hair, and that Aizawa's seems to change length constantly.