Toshinori sat, silent and unmoving, as he watched the mock battles unfolding in front of him on countless screens.

As he was not on the judging panel, he was free to focus most of his attention on his wayward young student. He knew he ought to be paying attention to all the children that he would potentially be teaching sometime in the near future, but he couldn't help but worry about young Midoriya.

Izuku definitely had an overflowing well of potential, but because the transfer of One for All had happened so last minute, he hadn't had a chance to practice with it, and Toshinori worried that it would hold him back.

Dimly, he could hear the ebb and flow of conversation around him as his colleagues discussed the examinees in approving tones. He tried to tune the conversations out, but as the same four names kept coming up again and again, he found his attention being drawn in another worrying direction.

Sawada Tsunayoshi. Gokudera Hayato. Yamamoto Takeshi. Dokuro Chrome.

It was plain for all to see that they were on a higher level than the rest of the examinees, and there was no doubt in anyone's mind that they would, all four, be accepted into the school. They each had devastatingly powerful quirks, and a level of control over them that most adults twice their age hadn't even achieved yet.

They seemed the very picture of the perfect candidates.

And therein lay the problem.

In the interest of impartiality, none of the teachers on the judging panel had been made aware of the fact that the four children they were all looking upon with such approval actually belonged to the mob.

The only ones who knew about it were principal Nedzu, Recovery Girl, and Toshinori himself.

Normally, Toshinori would be more than willing to give a child the benefit of the doubt, no matter what their background or who their parents; but after decades fighting crime as the number one hero in the world, Toshinori knew intimately the insidious nature of Italy's Vongola Famiglia.

Nine generations in and still going strong, they were one of the very few mafia families that had not only survived, but thrived in this society so saturated with superheroes.

"You seem troubled," said a voice suddenly from near his elbow, and Toshinori flinched, turning a guilty expression upon the person sitting in the chair next to him, watching him with understanding glittering in his bright black eyes.

"I would think that I could count on you, of all people, to be on these children's side, Toshinori," said the principal, his voice gently chiding. "They still have room to learn and grow. With the right kind of guidance, perhaps they can leave behind their dark pasts, and walk towards a brighter future with the rest of our students."

Toshinori swallowed his protests.

Nedzu, who had been principal since before even Toshinori had attended UA decades ago, was one of the people Toshinori respected most in this world, and while Toshinori didn't share the principal's optimistic views about the Vongola children, he'd be damned if he didn't try his hardest to make his hopes a reality.

"Every child deserves a chance to be saved."

With a huff of relief, Chrome let her illusions collapse the moment she was sure the robots were all well and truly destroyed.

Her eyes screwed tightly shut, she reached up to rub at her temples, trying to stave off the tell-tale headache that pounded painfully at the base of her skull whenever she over-exerted herself with her quirk.

She knew that she should probably take it easy – her body was still healing from her latest surgery, and she knew she'd already managed to rack up enough points to pass the practical portion of the exam.

But just passing wasn't enough – she wanted (needed) to be at the top of the leaderboard, along with her Boss and the other two. She needed to prove that she deserved to stand on equal footing with them. She needed to make her boss proud, even if it meant she'd be dealing with nausea and headaches for the next few days.

And so, taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes again and called up her lotus illusions once more, already looking around for more robots to destroy.

Just as she was about to run off down another alley however, she heard a crash just a few blocks away, and the sound of panicked yells.

"Run!"

"It's the gimmick!"

"Is this some kind of joke!?"

Without even thinking, she spun towards the source of the confusion, already racing towards the commotion before her brain even had time to catch up with the situation.

The gimmick robot that would rampage when crowded. It was bigger and far more dangerous than the rest of the "villain" bots that were roaming the streets of the battle centre. It was also worth zero points.

She knew that it would be pointless to destroy it but she couldn't help but be worried about the other examinees. They were all innocent children after all, and while she knew the school board wouldn't let anything happen to the students, she still couldn't help but worry.

When the gigantic robot finally came into view, she saw that she was already too late.

The girl she had been talking to before the exam (Uraraka Ochako, her mind helpfully supplied) was stuck under a pile of rubble in the path of the rampaging robot, and another student (Midoriya Izuku – Reborn had made sure they would all recognize him on sight, given as they had good reason to believe that he was All Might's precious protégé) had already jumped into the fray to protect her.

Dashing forward, Chrome crouched down next to Uraraka, quickly checking to make sure she hadn't bumped her head. She had only just reached the girl when the sound of explosions radiated out from above her, and she moved quickly to send out thick ropes of lotus vines, weaving them into a sturdy net above them to keep the broken robot parts from falling onto her or her unconscious friend.

The searing bolt of pain at the base of her skull told her that the illusions wouldn't last much longer, so she hurried to pick Uraraka up bridal style, and managed to get them both away before her illusions collapsed right where they'd been just moments before, sending a dull thud of pain down her spine.

Chrome had only gotten them a few feet away when the sound of panicked screaming sounded from behind her, and she had to fight back a groan, wondering if she'd broken any mirrors recently. Just about anything that could possibly have gone wrong today, had gone wrong.

Resigning herself to spending the next few days bedridden, she carefully laid Uraraka on the ground and spun back towards the robot, where she immediately noticed Midoriya Izuku falling to his apparent death.

Taking a deep breath, Chrome gathered up the last of her strength, and sent out several large lotus flowers to catch Izuku, their soft, satiny petals sturdy enough to slow most of his momentum. It wasn't the most comfortable landing, and he would have a couple new bruises when he woke up, but no (new) broken bones, at least.

Letting her lips curl into a relieved smile, Chrome finally let her eyes slip closed, and she slumped forward into oblivion.

Her last thoughts before she passed out were that she was not looking forward to her boss's lecture when she woke up.

Chiyo stood over the three unconscious examinees, her lips twisted into a worried frown.

The worst off, by far, seemed to be the young illusionist girl. She had only a few cuts and scrapes on her face and arms, but the brunt of the damage appeared to be internal, from the mottled red and purple bruising that peeked out from beneath her crop top.

Huffing out an exasperated breath, Chiyo gently smoothed back the girl's bangs, and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. She'd exerted herself too much to heal completely, but Chiyo had managed to stop the internal bleeding for the moment.

Straightening out, she turned back towards the crowd of students behind her, and her eyes landed on her young apprentice, who was being uncharacteristically quiet as he worked through the examinees, using his quirk to heal the small scrapes and bruises they all sported.

"Sasagawa, child, come here!"

Sasagawa Ryohei: her protégé. He was a young first-year student who had earned his provisional license on his first try, without even breaking a sweat.

"Yes, sensei?" he asked, giving the student he had been treating a final pat on the head before turning to approach her, lips pulled back in that sunny smile that made his eyes scrunch closed.

As soon as he was close enough to see the girl on the floor next to her though, he froze in his tracks, the smile sliding off his face in record time.

"Chrome!" he gasped, running over to crouch next to her and unashamedly pushing her top up to show the extent of the bruising on her stomach even as he moved his body to block the view from the other examinees.

His face was troubled as his fingers traced lightly over the skin of her abdomen.

"I have to get her to Dr. Shamal," he said, moving to lift her head gently off the floor with his right hand while his left sifted through her silky purple hair, checking to make sure she hadn't hit injured her head when she'd fallen. "Ahh, I told her to take it easy today! Her body hasn't had a chance to fully heal from her surgery yet!"

Pushing her shirt back down over her stomach, Sasagawa slid an arm under her knees and rose smoothly with Chrome in his arms bridal style.

"Apologies, sensei," he said with a shallow bow in her direction. "I'll have to take my leave for today."

"Yes, yes, I understand," said Chiyo, waving him off. "I've stopped her bleeding for now, but she must be properly treated as soon as possible. You have those doctors of yours take good care of her, you hear?"

"Of course, sensei!" replied Sasagawa. "Will you be alright taking care of the rest of the students yourself?"

"And just what do you think I was doing all those years before you came along, young man?" she asked, turning a steely gaze on her student. "Run along now. I'll be just fine without you. These two are nowhere near as badly injured as your little friend there."

The grin she got from Sasagawa in reply to that was blinding.

"Of course, how could I have forgotten?" he asked. "I'll see you in school then, sensei!"

SkyGem: That's all for now! I hope you enjoyed! I'm sooo sorry this is like…four days later than I told you guys it would be up. Forgive me? Since the first episode of s2 came out last Saturday, I was feeling inspired, and actually managed to find time to do some writing for this! Yay! Please do leave a comment, and also, hmu on my tumblr! My url is skygemspeaks, and I post lots of headcanons and aus for yuri on ice and bnha! I also have a lot of other fandoms, so feel free to come and fangirl with me in my box! I love being tagged in things!