BNHA: I am Reiji Toga

The fight projected on the screen showed Iida and Sero in constant pursuit. Both moved through the floors of the test building, searching for Jiro and Shoji, who were defending a supposed bomb at the top.

Reiji watched them unblinkingly, arms crossed. His expression was neutral, but in his mind, he'd already recreated more than one version of the ending. This was the second fight. Previously, Katsuki and Kaminari had faced Denki and Mina. Victory was clear, yet Denki and Mina put up a fight and managed to capture Kaminari before losing to Bakugo.

"They're going too direct. If I were Shoji, I'd make them fall into the double echo zone."

The voice brought him out of his analysis. It was Momo; the two were a team, so they were analyzing the fights in an effort to get to know each other better for the test.

"I thought the same. They got carried away by the rhythm without making sure who was keeping the beat."

Reiji smiled, slightly. She was right. If they had planned their attack better together, they would have been able to defeat Sero from a distance and Iida once he tried to close in on Shoji. But they both acted on their own, in a joint plan. It might seem irrelevant, but that's precisely why they were in trouble now.

"Those kinds of mistakes are common when one believes combat is only about power," Momo added, calmly crossing her arms. "But a strategy without synchronization is just a bunch of good ideas fighting each other."

Reiji turned his face slightly toward her, more out of respect than surprise. He liked the way she put it.

"Thinking alike doesn't always mean acting together," she murmured. "But it helps to avoid getting in each other's way."

"And to enhance what the other already sees," Momo replied, without raising her voice.

They both fell silent for a moment, watching as Jiro managed to keep Iida at bay by using his sonic Quirk to create echo zones that disoriented the speedster.

In the distance, Todoroki was talking quietly with Melissa, methodically exchanging ideas. Reiji noticed them without taking his eyes off the screen.

"Do you think Melissa will take care of the surroundings while Todoroki pushes straight ahead?" he asked.

"I don't know," Momo said. "But I'm sure they won't go separately."

Reiji looked down and nodded. That was the difference from what they saw on the screen. Reiji knew exactly how to deal with both of them by taking advantage of Momo's Quirk, but... what was the point of him doing everything?

"I'll be your pawn in this practice; I'm at your complete disposal," Reiji declared, but before a surprised Momo could respond, Uraraka approached with a lively gesture.

"Hey! You two seem to be up to something serious."

"We're just making sure we don't make the same mistakes," Momo said.

"That sounds like a 'master plan' to me," Kaminari joked, appearing behind Tsuyu and Mineta.

Tsuyu looked at Reiji with that neutral expression of hers.

"You look more relaxed than yesterday."

"Because he already knows everyone's capabilities," he replied simply.

Momo wanted to speak, but stopped. Instead, she let out a small "hm" that hung in the air.

Before they could say anything else, a firm voice came from the speakers:

"Next match: Melissa Shield and Shoto Todoroki as heroes. Momo Yaoyorozu and Reiji Toga as villains. You have two minutes to prepare."

The atmosphere changed instantly. Eyes turned toward them.

"It's our turn," Momo said.

"Your turn, this test is yours," Reiji murmured, adjusting his right glove.

***

The hatch closed with a metallic sound, trapping them in the building designated for the test. It was similar to the place where Izuku and Katsuki had previously fought: concrete columns, industrial staircases, partially collapsed floors, and a serious training atmosphere, more realistic than school-like.

Momo stopped as soon as the sound ceased, turning to him.

"Why did you tell me this test was mine?" she asked bluntly, without a trace of doubt, only genuine curiosity.

Reiji walked beside her, hands in his pockets, attentive to his surroundings.

"Because it's your strong suit," he replied calmly. "You have a Quirk that turns knowledge into tools. Literally. That gives you a strategic advantage that few have. I can fight, cover you, even improvise, but when it comes to planning... you have the resources, and the head."

Momo narrowed her eyes.

"You... Do you think I plan better?"

"My Quirk allows me to plan and improvise. If something goes wrong, I can fix it immediately," he said, turning his face slightly to look at her. "But this test is about teamwork, yes, but also about learning to lead. And you can do that part better than me. I work better alone, and I trust you... Although you weren't like Melissa, constantly jotting things down, you have a pretty sharp eye."

She didn't respond immediately. Her fingers unconsciously touched the edge of her tactical belt.

"What if I fail?"

Reiji shrugged.

"Then we both fail. It doesn't matter, but if we win... That's what you should ask yourself."

***

Melissa checked the parameters on her support glove. The digital map of the building unfolded in a blue projection before her eyes. She took a deep breath. Not out of nervousness, but to focus her mind. Her partner, however, didn't seem to need it.

Shoto Todoroki stood at attention to one side, his eyes fixed straight ahead. He didn't speak. He didn't ask questions. He didn't seem interested in coordinating anything beyond what was strictly necessary.

"We have fifteen minutes to capture the 'villains' or secure the 'core,'" Melissa commented, gently breaking the ice. Her tone was practical, but heavy with intent. "If we divide the terrain into two zones, I can cover the side entrances with remote sensors, and you could push from the front."

Shoto nodded slowly, not looking at her.

"Go for it. I don't mind."

Melissa tilted her head.

"Do you have a preference for a route or movement pattern? Or do you want me to improvise based on what I detect?"

"Do what you think is best," he replied curtly, though without any malicious intent. "Once I start the patrol, I'll cover the place with ice. I don't think it will stop them, but it will distract them."

The young woman swallowed, without losing her composure. She pressed a command into her glove. A series of micro drones floated in the air and dispersed along the corridor. They activated silently, almost like an extension of her thoughts.

"Good, that sounds like a plan. If you can't catch them, it will give us an advantage against Reiji." The only real threat to either of them was the boy who had achieved first place in both the entrance exams and the tests within U.A. itself.

The alarm sounded, signaling the start of the confrontation.

In the next instant, a thin layer of frost spread across the floor as if the building had inhaled winter. Todoroki lowered his hand without visible emotion; the entire hallway, from the center to the upper stairs, was partially sealed by a mixture of ice and steam.

"That'll do it," he muttered. He knew Reiji wouldn't stay trapped there, but it would limit his escape routes.

Melissa didn't respond. She had already deployed her 3D map in real time. The drones were showing mild activity on the middle floor: a heat reading and a faint electromagnetic signal. However, when she tried to trace the exact source, the signal abruptly went out.

"Did they cancel the signal?" she whispered, surprised.

Todoroki glanced sideways.

"Momo?"

"Yes, that was much faster than I expected. They're on the fourth floor anyway; the bomb should be with them." Todoroki nodded and immediately headed up the stairs, Melissa following close behind. Both of them trusted in their own strength to be able to suppress Reiji together.

The second floor was silent. Melissa tried to use her devices again, but the signal was still cut off. This made her click her tongue, look out one of the windows, and then the stairs.

"They're probably full of traps... How about we take a walk around the outside?" the girl whispered to Todoroki, who understood her suggestion perfectly. His foot extended into ice, and before Melissa could say anything else, they both began advancing along the path Todoroki had begun to make.

At high speed, they both exited the building through the window and began climbing outside to the fourth floor.

"I've got them," Reiji's voice echoed in her ears as, from a window on the fifth floor, Reiji jumped directly at them, a gun in his hand.

"What the...?" Melissa exclaimed as Reiji pulled the trigger twice, and with great precision, two deployable nets aimed at the two "heroes."

The girl was the first to react, using her Quirk to create a powerful air current as she hit the air. Not only were the nets flung elsewhere, but Reiji was forced to use his blood to steady himself against the structure so he wouldn't be blown away.

The ice beneath the pair also easily shattered with the force of the blow, sending them both plummeting. Todoroki reacted quickly, using another column of ice to steady himself and return through one of the third-floor windows.

Melissa rolled on the ground as she fell to the third floor, landing with a sharp impact on her left arm. She quickly got up, ignoring the burning sensation. Todoroki was already on his feet, his breath thickening from the ice he had just generated.

"Are you okay?" he asked without looking.

"Yeah, that was quite a surprise..." He said, quickly getting back up while clutching his shoulder with a grimace. Before Todoroki could, two hollow sounds were heard from above.

BOOM!

CRACK!

The third-floor ceiling exploded violently, sending a shower of concrete, dust, and metal tumbling down on Melissa and Todoroki. The boy's ice barely formed a thin wall before the impact forced them backward. Melissa rolled to the side, her arm hitting the ground hard as a dense cloud enveloped them.

"Are you okay?!" she asked, sitting up with a grimace.

"Yes," Todoroki replied, getting up from the wreckage.

Visibility was almost zero. The only sounds were the crunching of yielding dust and the distant hiss of a draft...

"Melissa! Back off!" Todoroki shouted, just as a figure plummeted down through the hole in the ceiling.

Reiji.

With a net in one hand and a solid blood blade in the other, he descended like a sharp shadow.

Melissa raised her arm and released a blast of compressed air. Reiji dodged it with a graceful spin, skimming the ground to throw his net directly at Todoroki. The ice responded reflexively, freezing the net in midair.

From the left corner, another figure rushed out.

"Now!" Momo shouted, throwing a flash grenade that exploded in the middle of the hallway.

Melissa closed her eyes just in time, but the flash disoriented her enough for Momo to get into a better position. She had gone down another access and circled around them precisely.

Reiji walked past the girl with a proud smile, heading straight for a direct fight with the duo. When Melissa regained her senses, she saw Reiji's fist heading straight for her.

'Shit...' He managed to think as he activated the OFA throughout his body and barely dodged Reiji's blow. The boy didn't flinch, spinning on his own axis with extraordinary speed and flexibility, to kick Melissa's badly injured shoulder with force.

His body was thrown backward, hitting a steel desk that split under his weight. A groan escaped his lips as pain shot through his left arm like a shock.

"Tsk..." He grunted, forcing himself to stand as his vision vibrated at the edges.

Reiji didn't stop. He advanced without mercy, his blood blades forming with each step, adapting as if reacting to his intentions before his body. He was relentless. Cold. Almost clinical.

Todoroki stepped in his way, unleashing a wave of ice that covered the ground between him and Reiji.

The orange-eyed boy didn't slow down. He leaped onto the ice, his blood spreading like hooks to propel him forward, almost as if he were sliding on his own momentum.

"Can't you be normal?" Todoroki muttered, barely managing to block a thrust.

But as the fight intensified, Momo hadn't stopped.

From a side corridor, she kept moving, leaving small capsules and devices at strategic points, constructing the true battlefield.

"We won't defeat them head-on, Reiji. We just need to separate them," she whispered to herself, pulling out another capsule.

Melissa noticed.

"He's preparing something! Todoroki!"

But the boy couldn't move. Reiji kept him contained in a dizzying exchange of attacks.

Melissa gritted her teeth and dashed toward Momo.

"You're not going to set up another trap!" Her body moved at great speed thanks to AFO, quickly arriving a few meters in front of Momo.

Momo saw her coming and stepped back, her expression not one of fear… but of certainty.

"Too late," she said with a big smile. Each capsule released a projectile aimed directly at Melissa, who barely had time to dodge before Momo intercepted it with a metal bar that hit her on the forehead.

The blow was precise, causing Melissa to take a couple of steps back from the bruise.

Melissa barely had time to react before she felt her body being violently yanked. Reiji's vibrant red blood had latched onto her leg like a living whip, dragging her along in a momentum impossible to stop.

"What...?!" Was all she managed to say before slamming into Todoroki's side.

They both fell hard, skidding across the ground among shards of cracked ice and debris.

Todoroki let out a gasp of pain, his chest rising and falling with difficulty. Her skin on both sides was covered in frostbite and steam residue; she'd pushed her Quirk too far, reaching its limit.

Melissa got up with considerable difficulty; her shoulder was dislocated, and there was blood on her forehead, along with all the scrapes and bruises the pair had caused. She looked up just in time to see Reiji walking slowly toward them, unhurried, with that cold gaze that left no room for doubt.

"You must surrender, or fight with everything you've got," he said, without arrogance. Just a simple statement. Reiji barely had a scratch; his movements had been on another level, and not even Melissa, with her AFO at a low percentage, could match him.

Behind him, Momo also advanced, her body firm, another capsule in her hand, ready to activate it if necessary. There was no trace of the insecurity that had gripped her at the beginning. Only determination.

Melissa was about to launch an attack by activating her gloves to contain the AFO, but the voice on the megaphone stopped her.

"VILLAINS WIN, SPLENDID FIGHT REIJI AND MOMO!" All Might's unmistakable voice echoed throughout the room.

Momo, her heart still pounding, dropped the capsule and let out a gasp of joy, jumping slightly in place.

"We did it!" She exclaimed, turning to Reiji with shining eyes.

He simply looked at her and gave her a calm smile, without a trace of exhaustion, as if he'd known from the beginning that this was how it would all end.

"You did it. I just executed your ideas," he said naturally, without false modesty.

Momo watched him for a few seconds, surprised by his sincerity, and then nodded with a mixture of gratitude and pride. There was no sarcasm in his voice. No need to lead. Only respect.

A few feet away, Melissa forced herself to stand with a grimace of pain, while Todoroki sat silently, his breathing still labored.

When she looked down at her arm, she noticed something she hadn't remembered: a piece of adhesive tape, neatly placed on the side of her suit. Her eyes widened in surprise. Todoroki also looked down and noticed an identical piece on her hip.

"What...? When...?" Melissa murmured, astonished.

Todoroki rubbed his forehead, a little annoyed, though not at them. At himself.

"When they threw the nets at us, I guess. Or during the capsule explosion. I didn't see anything. They were one step ahead the whole time."

Melissa pressed her lips together, processing everything. It hadn't just been one trap after another. It had been a precise reading of their decisions, a sequence that had led them, step by step, right to where Momo wanted. Even the final confrontation was just the conclusion of a game already decided.

And yet... she didn't feel defeated. Just overwhelmed.

She looked over to where Momo and Reiji were celebrating silently, with a complicity that needed no words.

'They knew how to work as a team from the very beginning...' She thought.

And for the first time since entering U.A., Melissa felt she wasn't even close to her limit... but she wasn't alone on her path either.

===

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