Chapter 29: This chapter ends on a cliffhanger. Just thought that would be good to know!
*RUSTLE RUSTLE*
"Hey, has anyone got a spare red? Mine's running dry!"
"Hey, Ecto, pass the chips."
"Muimina, can you forward that to me?"
Toshinori stood at the edge of the teachers' lounge, doing his best not to balk.
He had come to the teachers' lounge to check on his cohorts after they hadn't responded to any of his calls, but…
He had never seen it so full. He hadn't even talked to half of these people!
"First time, Yagi?"
Toshinori turned, coming face to face with Present Mic.
Yamada, like most of the teachers in the room, had done without their costume, instead outfitting himself in the most barebones set of slacks and a shirt he had ever seen the Hero in. With his hair down, he looked almost like a different person.
The English teacher chuckled, yawning. "You should consider yourself lucky you don't teach any theory, man. You don't have to deal with hell day."
"OI, HIZASHI! There's no time to slack off!"
Yamada growled. "I'm on my five, Asshole! Sorry, tension is always high at the eleven-hour mark."
Toshinori gulped. "Uhm… may I ask why?"
"There are six hundred and fifty-four students in Yuuei. Each of them takes around ten exams. Do the math."
"Ah."
Yamada smiled, despite how tired he looked. "It's pretty much the only time of year the gen-ed and management teachers that aren't Heroes leave their towers outside of graduation. Everyone brings snacks, and we split the work pretty much evenly. Between the forty of us, we only have to mark so much stuff."
"I… see. Good luck?"
A deep guttural laugh, very much unlike his coworker, was heard.
"We don't need luck at this point. After all… Nedzu also pays us an obscene bonus every year to make sure we can get the theory marks out as early as we do. I, personally, am buying myself so much junk food after this. Oh, and if we're lucky he'll hire one of those energy drug guys to give us a boost!"
Toshinori, at this point, made the logical conclusion that he probably shouldn't be here.
"I'm… going to go now."
Yamada smiled, just about reaching his eyes. "You do that. I'm gonna go see if I have to slap Shouta awake again."
As his coworker sauntered back into the chaos of the packed room, Toshinori took a step back, shutting the door behind him, very much reconsidering going back to get the certification necessary to teach English once he retired from Heroics.
*CLANK*
He heard muffled shouting through the door.
"THE PRINTERS ####### JAMMED AGAIN!"
"OH, COME ON!"
Toshinori picked up his pace to head to Nedzu's office.
His friend might need some help with something, and there was no point in standing around! No other reason, obviously.
"Oh, man, that last test was bad… what if I, wait, no…"
Tooru gave a light nudge to her friend sitting next to her. "You did fine, Hito! Even if your test was magically twice as hard than the rest of ours, you would still have passed. Midori helped you, you know!"
"Well, I wouldn't say my tutoring was that good-"
Tooru flicked her other friend on the head.
"OW!"
"Not helping! Now, let's forget about our theoretical for now, okay? Let's do our best in these finals!"
Hitoshi huffed, but he looked sort of maybe reassured, which was a win for Tooru.
They had all gotten a day off after they had finished their theoretical exams (Which Tooru did… okay in? She passed, she was pretty sure, and that's what counted.), which Tooru had spent pretty much just sleeping. Now, though, she was rearing to go!
Eventually, the bus sputtered to a stop at the centre plaza, and Tooru took a deep breath.
They were gonna do this!
"It's about time we begin our practical exam. You twelve are the first of the three classes."
Togaru stood amongst his peers in his Hero costume, looking to his teacher. Aizawa-sensei slouched in front of the exam building, face neutral as always.
"I'm sure you all have some idea of what to expect."
Mashirao raised a hand. "As far as the rumours permeating our year say, we're supposed to be fighting robots. But considering that many of U.A's systems have undergone change this year…"
"That's correct!"
Huh?
Togaru looked to his teachers weapon of choice, where a rumbling appeared. A moment later…
"Hello, students!"
The principal emerged, smiling cheerily.
"Woah… Mido's not gonna do that for us, is he?"
"How would he even… never mind."
Nedzu smiled again, shifting into a comfortable position within their teacher's scarf.
"Now, as I'm sure you know, times are rather bizarre at present. While our hopes are to keep you students out of it, it is very likely you may emerge into a chaotic time. Thus, we wished to encourage you to practice fighting against real people. So…"
*WHAM*
"You'll be doing something a little more… exciting!"
The door in front of them burst open with a solid kick from Midnight, who strutted forward, with most of the U.A teachers on her back.
Vlad King, Present Mic, Ectoplasm, All Might… oh-oh.
Nedzu laughed heartily as he climbed down, rappelling against Aizawa's shoulder.
"In order to test your mettle, you'll be fighting against your teachers!"
Togaru blinked. That… felt out of his depth. U.A's Hero teachers were the best of the best.
Aizawa huffed. "It sounds rather daunting, but the pieces have been put in place to give all of you a chance to succeed."
All Might (He didn't want to be the one who had to fight him, sheesh.) smiled, pulling out a small item. "From the support course, we've acquired some rather special weights! With these, plus a little bit of holding back, there's always a possibility of fighting back against us! And to win…"
All eyes flowed to Snipe, who pulled out a small object from his holster. A set of handcuffs. "Get this little thang onto any part of us, and you win! Or, if you feel like the town is a little too small…"
Thirteen smacked a fist against their palm. "There's nothing wrong with realising a fight isn't one you can win! Escape to the edge of the zone…"
"And you still win, Hey!" Present Mic leaned against Eraserhead, despite the man's attempts to push him off, grinning.
Izuku raised a hand. "Who will be fighting who, Sensei?"
Nedzu smiled again. "That, of course, is the fun part… you'll have to find out!"
He pointed to a series of small vehicles. They were practically boxes with windows, and Togaru was pretty sure U.A usually used them to ship supplies around. Their windows had been blacked out, and considering there was no wheel, Togaru guessed they would be getting into them and ending up somewhere else without much effort of their own.
Pretty much the only identification each of them had was a small label, each with the name of a classmate.
"You'll be dropped into one of U.A's combat areas, and it'll be up to you to track down either your way out or the 'Villain' you need to capture. Your time limit is thirty minutes!"
Cementoss sighed. "Try not to cause to much damage. The A and B classes are getting tested tomorrow, even if their format is a little different."
(By Togaru's guess, more information, more danger from the teachers. Good luck to them.)
Vlad King uncrossed his arms, looking across their group. "There is of course, one last detail to the exam… but it'll be up to you to find that out when you get into the chaos."
Aizawa smiled. "You will be marked on various factors, and a victory does not necessarily mean a pass, and, of course, vice versa. Take this as a learning opportunity. And if you fail… there's always next time to succeed."
(In other words, if you lose this, it's fine, but Aizawa-Sensei will make the remedial lessons… intense.)
Nedzu smiled. "Well, good luck to you all. Feel free to enter your rides at your leisure! Toodledoo!"
With that, the teachers disappeared into the building, and the class breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Tsuyu shrugged. "Well… it could be worse?"
Sen sent a look towards the building the teachers had disappeared into, likely waiting for them to leave so that they could make their own trips. "How could this possibly be worse?"
"I mean, I'm probably not going to be the one who has to fight All Might."
"Uggh…"
Mashirao shrugged. "There's no point in panicking about it. Aizawa-Sensei did say that all of us were given battles we could win. Let's do our best!"
A chorus of cheers spread through the class, although they were quieter than usual, filled with determination.
"Welp, no point in standing around."
Hitoshi was the first to step forward, moving to the vehicle with his name on it. "I'll see you all on the other side. Do your best, or something,"
The door closed behind Hitoshi with a thunk, and the class collectively moved to their own vehicles. Togaru moved to his, getting one last grin in at his friends.
He was going to Win.
~---FINAL EXAMS: FIGHT!!!---~
Deep breaths.
The car (Practically a box with wheels, but what did he know) had been still for a few minutes now. It had evidently entered a zone, considering the bumpy path it seemed to have driven along, but Hitoshi had no clue which.
Instead, he milled through his list of teachers in his head, thinking of ways to make them slip up.
Vlad King and Midnight would be easy, a few prods at their classes would hopefully work. He'd gotten Ectoplasm before, so he could hopefully get him again, and of course, there was-
*Click*
Hitoshi blinked. Checking, he found his door unlocked. He was quick to crawl out of the cramped compartment into…
A mock cityscape surrounded him, apartments made of concrete and plastic reaching towards the sky.
"Ground Beta, then. Welp… better get moving."
He quickly started running through the side streets, looking at the buildings he passed, until –
There.
He swerved, dashing towards the building, simply indicated by a small star.
That, of course, meant he could use it to get onto the roof.
"No elevator… damnit."
Crawling up the stairs took a while, but, eventually, he made it.
Hitoshi grunted as he made his way to the edge of the building, taking a moment to catch his breath.
"Now, which way to the closest entrance… ah-hah."
He pulled out a pair of binoculars from his belt, looking to the exit.
"Well… that's not good at all."
Present Mic stood at almost leisure, watching over the gate with a sharp smile.
Well, maybe he could…
*SLURP*
The ground around the area rapidly began to shift, bending and contorting to form a series of inter-layered barriers. Which meant…
Hitoshi managed to spot Cementoss standing just out of sight of the main path to the entrance, ready to perform a surprise attack.
So, either the ultimate in offence or the ultimate in defence, huh.
"Now, what to do…"
*Thunk*
Hitoshi scrambled back as he felt a force collide with his back. Looking down, he recognised it as a small piece of rock.
Judging by the angle it hit him with…
He looked ahead to the many roofs of the surrounding cityscape.
Finally, he spotted his 'attacker'.
Jirou waved with a small grin.
"There is of course, one last detail to the exam… but it'll be up to you to find that out when you get into the chaos."
Huh. He could work with this.
Kyouka wasn't going to pretend that her sign language abilities weren't mediocre at best, but the scant abilities she did have were a lifesaver at the moment.
It had been difficult communicating at a distance, especially while making sure neither Cementoss or Present Mic spotted them, but they had succeeded.
Finally, though, Hitoshi (who was also here, thank hell.) had seemingly sent over his last message, a simple good luck, before disappearing off the roof, prompting Kyouka to do the same.
As she climbed down the stairs, she took a deep breath. They had managed to assemble a fairly ramshackle 'plan', but it would work. Hopefully.
Neither of them could take on both teachers at once, and both of them were weak to one of them on their own. But together, they managed to put together a plan that might just get them a top score, if Kyouka said so herself:
Flip the script.
She emerged from the building, waltzing through the street, making sure not to touch any sinkholes. She approached towards the exit as nonchalantly as she could. Knowing Present Mic, his Villain persona would…
As she emerged from the corner, Present Mic laughed. "I see a different Hero from the one I expected has come to fight me! Was Slackjaw too cowardly?"
She shrugged. "I'd rather say he's being smart."
Suddenly, a small speaker next to Present Mic began to rumble. "CEMENTOSS HAS BEEN CAPTURED!"
Her teacher's eyes widened, and he looked to the side. "Ken! What the hell!?"
The voice of an embarrased Cementoss appeared over the radio.
"I… apologise. He insulted the classics, and I couldn't stop myself from defending them…"
Cementoss awkwardly sighed as he turned off his radio, and Present Mic huffed. "Wow… well, no matter! Since my partner is gone, I'll have to get you myself!"
The "Villain" leaned back, taking a deep breath, and Kyouka responded, quickly snaking down her jacks into her boots.
A moment later-
*YYYYYYYYEEEEEEAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!* *FWOOOOOM*
The two blasts of sound collided, and Kyouka's theory came true, with the two blasts cancelling each other out.
More annoyingly, though. She knew Present Mic could keep it up a lot longer than she could. Fortunately, it kept him occupied, which meant their gambit would pay off…
*THUNK*
Present Mic fell to the ground with a (not quirk amplified, this time) shout as Hitoshi nailed him from behind with his staff. Before he could get up again, Kyouka dashed forward, quickly snapping the handcuffs onto the man's arms.
"PRESENT MIC HAS BEEN CAPTURED!"
Kyouka couldn't help but whoop. "Yeah, baby! Victory!"
Hitoshi, meanwhile, smirked. "Hell yeah. That should make up for fumbling history as badly as I did…"
The two of them stood there for a few moments, silent.
Kyouka blinked. "Uuuh… Now what?"
Hitoshi leaned downwards, poking at the… snoozing Present Mic. "I think I nailed him too hard. Do you… wanna go free Cementoss so he can give us a ride back?"
"That's probably a good idea."
BEAT UP AND SLACKJAW VS CEMENTOSS AND PRESENT MIC: PASS
"HOW IS THIS EVEN SLIGHTLY FAAAAIIIIIR!?!?"
Tooru dashed through Ground Omega. She had been hoping she'd be able to use stealth for this, but nope!
*CRASH*
"GET BACK HERE!"
"I'd really rather not!"
Hound Dog stormed after her on all fours. Even with the weights on his arms and legs, his top speed was just a little higher than hers.
She had only gotten a few minutes to prepare before the Teacher's sense of smell had tracked her down. In that time, she had managed to track down Yui, who was apparently also fighting in the forest, but, once again, it was rather hard to coordinate while being chased.
Chased… That was it!
She briefly stilled to a stop around a corner, opening her ears.
*SLAM*
There we go! Run in that direction!
Hound Dog crashed into a tree, before growling and continuing on
Tooru began running again, hearing the barks of Hound Dog just on her tail.
Eventually, she found herself in a clearing…all but crashing into Yui.
Yui stepped back; eyes wide. She was sporting a large stick, grown from a branch. I had clearly snapped. The forest didn't exactly play to her strengths.
"Invisible… run."
Tooru shook her head. "I'm already doing that! You need to run away too! I'm trying to get Hound Dog to knock himself out-"
Instead of saying a word, Yui simply looked down.
*RUMBLE*
Tooru looked to her classmate, before sighing.
"Oh, Phooey."
*CRASH*
INVISIBLE LADY AND RULE VS POWER LOADER AND HOUND DOG: FAIL
Well, not going over there.
Yousetsu overlooked the east half of the suburban area he had been dropped off in.
Seriously, U.A could house half the city if something happened with how many training areas they have… oh. Huh. Wouldn't put it past the principal.
The roads on that side were covered in the violet miasma that indicated the presence of Midnight.
Well, therein lies the simple solution… when there's a rock in your path… walk around it!
But…
Yousetsu pondered as he dashed through the unoccupied path. That would be too simple. If Midnight was easy enough to avoid…
*thump* *thump* *thump*
Yousetsu just about heard the noise of running feet. But-
(Weld was… omnipresent, to Yousetsu. Even when it wasn't in use, it leaked through. When he held something, instinct drove him to turn on his quirk. So, when that constantly feeling of his quirk flowing through his fingers stopped…)
Above!
He quickly dove into a roll, snapping up to the light above him, where Eraserhead hung above him.
Eraserhead smirked. "Good job on the detection."
Yousetsu scowled. "A two versus one? Really?"
"Midnight's quarrel isn't with you."
So he had a buddy, then. Hell yeah.
"So does that mean I can just leave, or…"
His teacher shook his head. "I'm afraid not."
Eraserhead dove in, shooting a string of capture tape forward, forcing Yousetsu to leap back.
He chose the moment to run away, like a coward.
He had one good shot at beating Aizawa-Sensei. If this didn't work…
"Running away, are we?"
(The gloat broadcasted his opponent's location. It was probably on purpose, holding back and all that, but he wasn't going to complain.)
Yousetsu slid into the nearest side road. He took a deep breath and pumped his left arm.
Hold… hold… hold… THERE!
*THUNK*
A cable shot out of his gauntlet, sticking into the wall on the other end of the road.
"That won't be enough to trip me up, you know."
Aizawa-Sensei leaped over the cable-
*THUNK*
His teachers eyes widened as a second cable shot forward. He shifted himself in the air, but not far enough, the impact sending him tumbling backwards for only a moment.
Yousetsu dashed forward, reaching into his pocket.
"PLEASE COUNT!"
And before his teacher could recover and reactivate his quirk, Yousetsu thought fast.
*thoom*
Aizawa-Sensei stilled, looking to the yellow handcuff welded to his arm.
Yousetsu closed his eyes. "Please count, please count, please count…
An electronic voice burst out of his teacher's small radio. "ERASERHEAD HAS BEEN CAPTURED!"
"WHOO! SEMANTICS!"
Aizawa huffed, sitting up as Yousetsu winded his cables in. "Good Job, Awase. You're getting a good handle on your gear."
Yousetsu flush a little, scratching his head. "Can't exactly Weld away all my problems, sensei."
"You're learning, then. Right... you could leave now, or…"
Aizawa-Sensei's eyes turned towards the other side of the city.
["Midnight's quarrel isn't with you."]
He scowled. "Ah, what the hell."
Without giving another word to his teacher, he dashed back in.
*WHAP*
"Oh, come out, won't you, dear? It'll make this whole thing easier!"
Alright, Midnight, she got it. You have an aesthetic, or whatever.
Tsuyu leapt through the area, sticking to the roofs. Annoyingly, the exit gate was absolutely caked in somnambulist gas, and for various reasons, she'd probably not get the worlds greatest mark for escaping and immediately falling unconscious, at least without putting a mark onto Midnight.
She would loved to have fought her teacher, but Midnight has been persistent in keeping her where she was, her whip and fan working to fill her surroundings with more gas.
Speaking of…
She narrowly dodged another attempted whip crack from Midnight, who was fast. She could normally escape her without too much difficulty, but keeping her breath held for long periods was slowing her down-
Tsuyu came to a stop, finding herself at a dead end, the house in front of her bordered by a large wall. She could swerve… but the approaching teacher behind her made that difficult.
Midnight smirked, cracking her whip for extra measure.
"Sorry, Asui-chan… I'll be sure to give you extra points for trying-"
*THWACK*
Midnight fell to the side, holding her head while she grunted in pain at the arrival of a sudden familiar projectile in the form of her friends cable shot.
"Looking down of the roof, she spotted Yousetsu, headband wrapped around his mouth as a makeshift filter. "Book it!"
You didn't have to tell her twice. She took in one last deep breath before jumping down after Yousetsu, the quickly rising teacher on her tail.
The pair quickly swerved between the buildings, a large amount of the violet mist approaching them. Left, Right, Forward, left again…
*BEEP*
"ASUI – ESCAPE!"
Midnight finally caught up, but her scowl had been replaced with a grin. "Good job, you two! Ah, teamwork! It's always lovely to see!"
Yousetsu grinned. "It's… it's what I woulda…"
Before he could finish his sentence, Tsuyu's friend collapsed onto the ground, snoring.
Midnight blinked. "Huh. I guess he got more of a dose than I thought he did. Good thing you can carry him back, huh?"
Tsuyu shook her head. "Sorry, Midnight-sensei. I am… only so strong willed."
A moment later, she fell to the ground, joining her friend in slumber, but not before hearing a series of rather vulgar words from her teacher.
FROPPY AND CONSTRUCTI-MAN VS MIDNIGHT AND ERASERHEAD: PASS
Sekijirou wasn't going to say he disliked the U.S.J.
It was, for one, a marvel of modern engineering. It was excellent for teaching, had a decent stock of cute animals, and, above all else, was Kurose's baby. And no one disliked Thirteen. Needless to say, he was always happy to go to the U.S.J when the opportunity presented itself.
Right now, though…
The power was out. It was still light out, sure, but the complete dead silence, especially since the building was closed to the public and the maintenance crews during the exam, was unnerving.
Mostly because it shouldn't be this quiet.
Thirteen's quirk had been the expected loud, but it had shut off a few minutes ago, right about when his radio had indicated they had been 'captured'. They had told him to guard the door, but at this point he was concerned something had happened, forcing him to go into the area proper.
Both of the students' vehicles had dropped them off in the conflagration zone, thankfully with the fire off. They hadn't left that area, and it only had one exit, which at least meant they wouldn't be sneaking out behind him.
He huffed as he slid open the door. "Alright, kids, out you get! Stalling will do you no favours!"
Looking around, he instead found… Thirteen?
Kurose sat calmly, practically twiddling their thumbs, with a pair of handcuffs tied around their puffy arms.
Noticing him, they waved. "Hey, Vlad-senpai! Heheh… I suppose we underestimated Phantomime... dropped on me by surprise. Probably should be concerned about that lack of a fear response, though… I had black hole activated and everything."
They pointed up, chuckling again.
It should be noted that he did not gulp when he looked up, finding a person staring down at them from her position on top of the roof.
Yanagi waved, smiling lightly.
"I am going to leave now."
Sekijirou turned around, only to be met with the face of Shouji, who, despite still being a little smaller than him, managed to look rather imposing with his array of arms.
Sekijirou sighed.
"I knew I shouldn't have agreed to help Aizawa with his kids…"
Needless to say, his fight was not all that intense.
TENTACOLE AND PHANTOMIME VS VLAD KING AND THIRTEEN: PASS
VLAD KING: DEAD IN A DITCH (HYPERBOLE)
Mashirao ran through the building, breathing heavily. He had been running from Ectoplasm clones for the last while, but it was getting… unpleasant. He functioned far better in short bursts of strength than in long battles. And…
*BANG, BANG*
"OH, SOD OFF!"
The bullets certainly weren't helping.
*KLANG*
Kaibara deflected another bullet (Even if they were sandbags, they still hurt.) with a growl. "They're gaining on us!"
Mashirao knew he was right, but saying it out loud wasn't helping at all. "I'm aware. We're almost to the entrance!"
The winding hallways (that Mashirao was pretty sure were in a reused grain storage, but he, like his cohorts, had learnt to stop questioning U.A's layout) finally came to a head as they entered a large chamber, their exit a floor down.
An Ectoplasm, more likely than not The Ectoplasm, stood at the entrance, expression obscured by his outfit.
Sen cussed under his breath. "Damnit, now what's he going to do…"
"Excellent work on bypassing my copies and Snipe. However… I'm afraid that is as far as you go!"
Ectoplasm released a lurch of, well, Ectoplasm from his mouth which began to coalesce on the ground. Before it could form anything-
*BANG*
Mashirao felt himself being shoved out of the way of a shot from behind as a shot burst out from behind.
Snipe appeared from the hallway, and Mashirao got the feeling he was smirking under his mask.
"It would appear you varmints have failed… and I slowed my shots, too. Have you considered investing in range?"
Sen sent out a glare. "I would have appreciated that advice before we showed up here! But we're not out yet!"
"Oh, I think ya` are…"
Before Mashirao could consider that answer, he looked to the ground, now notably more shaded before. Snapping around, it was fairly easy to figure out why.
"GIANT BITE DETENTION!"
Sen swore under his breath as he struggled under the giant clone's… skin? Clothes?
Whatever it was, it was keeping him contained. He could spin, but that momentum wouldn't exactly go anywhere.
Most annoyingly, though, time was running out.
Snipe had joined Ectoplasm by the entrance, the teachers seemingly having decided to wait the timer out.
Sen turned to his surprise partner, who wasn't moving, instead deep in though.
"Got any ideas there, Tailman?"
Mashirao opened his eyes. "Just the one. It'll be a scramble, though, and odds are high both of us might not make it out."
Sen nodded. "Better than nothing. No hard feelings?"
Mashirao shook his head. "None at all."
"Well then you better get going, because-"
"One minute before match over!"
His partner nodded, before doing… something?
A moment later, though, Ectoplasm (Both the clone and the man himself) seemed to flinch, before… keeling over laughing.
(Later, Sen would ask Mashirao what he did. The answer ended up being relatively simple.
"Oh, that? I just wagged my tail. The top bit's fluffy, see? I was kind of gambling on Ectoplasm being ticklish…")
Suddenly, the bonds keeping them trapped there seemed to loosen, and Sen took his shot, crawling his way out.
"NOW!"
The two of them leaped forward towards the exit. Both Ectoplasm and Snipe turned to face them, but they were already on the move.
Sen grinned, spinning his feet as he slid forward, practically skating across the floor.
Snipe raised a revolver, preparing a shot.
Mashirao leapt forward, glaring. "HAH!"
*BANG*
The shot landed true, but Kaibara had already slipped passed them, through the exit.
"KAIBARA – ESCAPE!"
Which meant…
Sen snapped around, looking to see if his ally had escaped as well, but-
"TIME!"
Sen dashed back in, looking to his friend, who was standing, but wincing with a concerned Snipe looking over him.
"Sorry, boyo… that shot was meant to hit a leg… are ya' alright?"
"Mashirao nodded. "Yeah… Sorry, Centrifugal."
Sen shook his head. "Are you kidding, man? You totally saved our butts!"
Ectoplasm approached; his giant clone having dissolved. "It was incredibly close. Even though you failed, Ojiro-kun, it was extremely close."
Ojiro winced. "Well, it's remedial classes for me…"
"I'll put in the good word, partner. Ol` Aizawa isn't all that bad in remedials. It's a whole lot more bark than bite."
Mashirao sighed, but shrugged. "Well, alright…"
The pair began to walk towards the (Thankfully normal) car they would be using back.
Mashirao seemed upset at losing so close to the end. He gave his friend a nervous pat on the shoulder.
"Hey, do you want to work on some team up moves? Maybe then we can win with both of us next time."
Mashirao smiled.
"Sure."
TAILMAN AND CENTRIFUGAL VS SNIPE AND ECTOPLASM: 1 PASS, 1 FAIL
"Alright… if you were Aizawa, Togaru… who would you put yourself up against?"
Togaru walked through the pipes of ground Gamma with trepidation.
He'd love to have sped up, but he didn't want to get jumped by his opponent.
*rumble*
Gamma wasn't the worst area he could have gone to. It had plenty of things to leap off of, for one, and plenty of places to hide. It was just… claustrophobic. Something could be hiding in any of the corners… and he wouldn't know.
*Rumble*
He grunted. The noise he had heard was getting louder. He could think of a few teachers that would make that noise, but only two who the teachers would want him to fight.
*CRANK*
And judging by the rumbling noises…
*CRASH*
Togaru leapt out of the way as a pipe fell from above.
"Heheheheh!"
Togaru could at least recognise that laughter.
*THUNK* *CRASH* *WHAM*
"Damnit… I can't fight a brain with knives!"
"But you can ttttrrrryyyyy!"
"Oh, COME ON!"
Izuku took a deep breath, listening intently to the rumbling noises coming from the other end of the area.
His guess was right.
Twelve teachers, Twelve students, Ten Areas at most.
More likely than not, they had been paired up, fighting independent Villains yet on the same side.
Their victories were separate, as were their escapes, but they were encouraged to work together. In other words…
Three others were in the maze of pipes with him. Two Villains, one of which would end his own exam if he succeeded in capturing, and another who, for all intents and purposes, he could ignore, although he could only guess they were welcome to attack him.
The other, a Fellow student. He could leave them to the wolves, but he knew full well he wasn't going to do that. Which left him the question of who.
Too many variables to decide on the student [Reiko, Yui, Mashirao, Sen…] but he had plenty on the teachers.
Judging by those crashing noises, his partner was paired up against Nedzu-sensei, no doubt about it. High specs would make such destruction easy.
Midnight, Thirteen, and Eraserhead were out. His quirklessness meant Eraserhead was a no go, and he had shown his teacher his counters to the other two Heroes.
Hound Dog almost certainly went to Tooru, and Ectoplasm would likely be sent to Mashirao, both as counters to his friends' skills. Snipe would probably go to Sen and wouldn't be in this zone either thanks to the hard to fire in hallways. Vlad was too slow to get through the pipes at any reasonable pace.
Present Mic would have made his presence obvious. Cementoss would certainly be in ground beta, where his Cement would be useable, and Power Loader had no ground to dig in.
Which, of course, left one answer for who Izuku was going to have to fight.
He sighed, digging into his pockets for the gear he needed. "Just because I know you doesn't mean I'll go easy on you!"
*SLAM*
"I'm happy to hear that, my boy. Now, how about we get started?"
Izuku blinked, staring down the face of his idol.
An idol that, despite being held by Izuku on a pedestal his whole life…
Was someone Izuku knew he could beat.
GUIDANCE AND JACK MANTIS VS NEDZU AND…
ALL MIGHT
Chapter 30: Punching Up (Or, well, stabbing up, but thats a little bit off)
"Hmm… some damage over there… a little bit of destruction over here…Oh, this is simply delightful!"
Aright, the Councillor had gone on about how it was 'ok to have issues' or whatever, but this was a bit much!
*CRASH*
Togaru leapt to the side, dodging another piece of rubble. Annoyingly, the drops were all timed perfectly so as not to hit him and put him in real danger. Instead, Nedzu's scheme seemed to focus on blocking him in.
Which left one solution.
*Shlink*
Pushing blades out of his feet, he leapt up from the ground, stabbing into the side of the large tank, before repeating the action until he had made it to the top.
If there was anything Togaru was grateful for, it was that the mock factoryscape that was Ground Gamma was made from cheap enough materials that he could pierce through most of it.
*KABOOM* *THUNK*
"Oh, lay off, would you, sensei?"
Thanks to a well timed explosion from a power cell, the tank under his feet began to crumble, forcing him to keep on moving.
And the teachers were the ones talking about damage! He supposed the man fighting him would be the one paying for it, but the point still applied!
Finally getting a moment of peace, He looked east, towards the exit.
Between him and said exit stood a myriad of mechanical devices, from cranes to vehicles, that the principal was likely piloting remotely to cause all this damage.
He probably couldn't get out before the principal wore him down.
Even then, he had no idea which one of said devices the man himself was holed up in-
*PHEWWWWW*
Togaru's gaze snapped to the other side of the area, a fair distance from Nedzu's domain. A large red flare had shot into the air, a line of fire following in its wake.
There was only one person he knew who would have that on him.
Welp, change of plans!
Togaru leapt off right from his current spot, already crumbling around him, heading away from the exit.
He had a buddy to help!
~---FINAL EXAMS: COUP DE GRÂCE---~
"Calling for backup, eh? Smart, but as a 'Villain', I disapprove! Now, come out!"
Izuku breathed as sigh of relief as his opponent seemed to stomp away, seemingly having lost track of him.
Izuku knew that All Might was running at about fifty percent of his actual physical might thanks to the weights. Even with that, as well as the man holding back… it wasn't a threat he could take on head on. Logically, he needed to escape and 'find backup'.
His first escape from the Hero had been easy. A smoke bomb and some silent running made the man lose his trail, but there was only so long he could hide from the patrolling pro. Thus, the flare.
It had been a risky play, but it had been necessary to find his ally.
He heard a thud burst from behind him.
It was relatively soft, so I couldn't be All Might. Which meant…
"I should have known I was going to have to deal with All Might…"
Izuku turned around, smiling at his friend. "Jack Mantis. Score!"
Togaru smirked. "Hell yeah I am. You're lucky I managed to sneak past All Might… I'm hoping you've got a plan for dealing with the big guy?"
Izuku shook his head. "Physically? Not a chance. But I think we can escape."
Togaru shrugged, only looking a little irked. "That works. I'd love to try, but logically… I don't exactly think I can cut the number one, well… at all."
He nodded, looking at of their hiding spot. All Might had disappeared, presumably looking elsewhere. "Alright. First, we need to deal with… the other problem."
Nedzu happily took a sip of his tea. Ahhhh.
He knew he was acting on his base instincts, but… it was simply too fun!
Bringing out the best in his students, triggering his hunting instincts… and he got to do it two more times!
(By his prediction, the A and B students he had assigned would have a lot more trouble escaping than Kamakiri and Midoriya would… he would need to not overdo it and concern his coworkers.)
He took a look at his watch as he set down his cup. By his prediction, the two students were likely on their way back here. Of course, he as a competitor was long since doomed, since he purposefully placed himself in a vulnerable position by getting into the largest crane of the batch. If he had truly wanted to win… it would have been a far more subtle plan.
*THUNK*
Oh, there we are!
Looking into one of his cameras, he spotted young Kamakiri making his way up the crane with a determined glare. He set the crane to spin rather wildly, just to slow him down a little. He knew All Might would be watching the crane in the event the boy fell, so that wasn't a concern. Speaking of…
It appeared Midoriya and Yagi were having a little spat right underneath him.
He didn't have a perfect angle, but he was happy to see his student was holding his own, sliding out of the way of the man's punches (Slowed to a great margin, but still rather fast) and countering with his menagerie of equipment. He had missed a few points to simply claim victory over the man, but Midoriya was perhaps a little more noble than he was, avoiding the Hero's wounded side.
"Damnit… you really chose an annoyingly high spot… Principal, sir…"
Nedzu smirked, turning his chair around to face the huffing Jack Mantis.
(Nedzu had let his favoured spots in ground Gamma slip once, when he and Midoriya were touring the various areas of U.A a few weeks back. For no reason at all, of course. It was pleasant to see that his student had remembered the detail!)
"I see you managed to dodge my traps, Jack Mantis! There were only so many exits, and I'll say you took advantage of height well."
The boy grinned. "Mr. Brave taught me a bit of parkour.... Am I going to have to fight you now?"
Nedzu shook his head, walking forward. "Heavens, of course not! You would win, and this place is much too cramped."
He pulled a pair of handcuffs out his pockets, slipping one around his hand with a small click.
"MR. PRINCIPAL HAS BEEN CAPTURED!"
"Huh. Uhm... Thanks, principal. I think?"
He smiled. "Of course! I must thank you for looking after my student. Speaking of, you've technically passed the exam. You're welcome to leave if you wish. But, of course, I can think of a few reasons why you would rather not…"
Kamakiri blinked for a moment, before he shook himself out of his confusion, already moving off to exit. "Duh! Gotta help out my buddy. See you later, Sir!"
Kamakiri leapt off the crane, sliding down the side of it with dramatic flair.
Nedzu sighed. He was going to offer the boy one of the two available parachutes, but that also worked.
Oh well! He slipped off his handcuffs, grabbing his own parachute in order to exit the area without interrupting the combat that was no doubt beginning bellow.
He was looking forward to seeing the footage when it was over!
"Alaska… SMASH!"
(An ultra rare All Might super move, perfect for disabling – NOT NOW, IZUKU!)
Izuku slid out of the way of the Hero's 'slow' Punch, throwing another flashbang to deter All Might once more. The addition of a pair of goggles to his supplies was certainly coming in handy.
They weren't very comfy, though... he needed a better pair.
No matter how much gear he had, though... there was only had so long he could last in a fight.
All Might, however, was relentless.
The man himself smiled, rubbing his eyes as he stood to face him again. "You've fought well, Guidance, but I'm afraid I would be a rather subpar teacher if I let your onslaught be enough to slow me down!"
Izuku nodded. He was here to stall for time. The Hero was slow enough now that Izuku was able to see his moves coming, ready to dodge them, but his breath was getting hoarse. "Right… All Might! I can't be a Hero if I give up!"
All Might laughed, his trademark grin widening. "As far as I'm aware, you've already got the licence! Nonetheless, it's our job as teachers to prove your mettle!"
Izuku smiled lightly, doing his best to keep his composure. "Well, I'm using all the lessons Nedzu-sensei taught me quite well, I think… even right now, All Might!"
All Might took a step back, looking around. "What…"
Izuku smiled. "Like... distraction!"
But he didn't look up.
"WOO!"
Jack Mantis leapt off of the crane pillar he had been sliding down, wrapping around All Might's neck with a flourish, grinning wildly.
"NEDZU'S GONE! BOOK IT!"
Togaru didn't have to tell Izuku twice. He quickly threw off his coat, taking one last look at his friend, who at this point was still latched onto a scrambling All Might, and dashed off into the zone.
The moment his friend was out of sight, Togaru leapt off of All Might's back. He's happy to call himself spindly, sure, but it wouldn't have taken much longer for the man to slow down and grab him, which would have been something between unpleasant and ouch.
Quickly scrambling away from the Hero while the man was regaining his balance, he reached for Izuku's discarded coat. It was mostly empty by now; it's myriad pockets having almost everything of value removed to be thrown at All Might. Nevertheless, he stuffed what he could into his cloak, before chucking the coat away so that it could hopefully be picked up when the exam was done.
"Maybe I should get some more pockets…"
All Might coughed, standing up. The area under the crane was thankfully flat, making for a decent arena for the two to have their fight.
"That was… quite the entrance, Jack Mantis."
"I aim to please."
*SCHLINK*
Togaru began to manifest the blades he'd need. Once again, blades lined his face, bringing back the armour he had used during the festival. Two sleek blades emerged on his forearms, and he readied to be able to quickly make more under his feet and on his arms.
Togaru raised a bladed arm. "I'll be your opponent now, All Might!"
The Hero grinned. "I see… acting in the defence of your partner. How noble!"
(He remembers it. Watching the news report on an attack on Hosu, far out of his reach. His friend was there, fighting and defeating Villains. He wasn't there. He wasn't there-)
Togaru sent out a glare. "Damn right! We made a promise… to help each other until we're all real Heroes! And I don't intend to break that promise!"
"RIGHT!"
All Might dashed forward, almost faster than he could see, moving to disable him with a punch.
Togaru slid out of the way, glaring.
"RAH!"
He went in for his own slash, but All Might dodged in kind, limber even with the weights on his body.
The only evidence of his success was a slim cut through the man's bodysuit.
Before All Might could counter, he leapt away thanks to a blade boosted jump, grabbing onto one of the many pipes sticking out of the walls surrounding them.
"I'm afraid your odds of victory are slim here, Jack Mantis!"
Togaru flipped over, land on top of the construct, before dashing away.
He circled around the Hero, taking a deep breath, before jumping forward.
"That's kind of the POINT!"
He moved his arm forward, aiming for a slash that would force All Might to dodge again.
*THUNK*
Unfortunately, All Might was faster.
*BAM*
With a powerful throw from All Might, Togaru crashed into the wall, groaning. It was a whole lot softer than he knew All Might was capable of, but…
"Oooowwwwww…"
All Might smiled as he walked over to Togaru, who was still wincing in pain.
"You fought excellently, young Kamakiri. I'm confident that you will be an excellent Hero, if you are this competent now. But I'm afraid I must go now and attempt to catch your partner!"
As the Hero walked away, Togaru managed to weakly raise a hand.
"Hey, All Might! Hold on…"
Like a fool, All Might turned around, raising an eyebrow.
Togaru raised his other hand from out of his cloak, grinning as he threw the last flashbang Izuku had left in his coat.
"NOT YET!"
*RINGGGGG*
"WOAH!"
Togaru managed to close his eyes fast enough to leave the flash as only a light ringing in his ears. As All Might stepped back, briefly blinded again, Togaru forced himself up, manifesting two crooked blades from the sides of his arms.
(Togaru got the feeling All Might probably could have dodged his attack, but he doubted he'd get a straight answer from the man if he asked.)
"Time to borrow a move again… REPLICATION: WELD!"
The blades barely wrapped around All Might's arm, but they managed. Togaru smirked, sticking another pair into the ground, keeping him in place.
"What!?"
Togaru took a deep breath as All Might scrambled to pull him off.
A moment later, he felt the two blades snap, and he winced in pain, but-
The radio strapped to All Might's waist finally vibrated.
"MIDORIYA – ESCAPE!"
All Might instantly slowed down, blinking.
Togaru stood quiet for a moment. Had he… done it?
A second later, All Might burst into cheerful laughter.
He turned around, quickly helping Togaru to his feet as the knives he had manifested returned to his body. "Well done, My boy! Are you alright?"
Togaru took a heavy breath as the deep adrenaline that often took over during battle receded. "I think… I'm ready to take a nap."
His teacher chuckled again, although it was much calmer. "That's certainly fair, my boy. Now, how about we go back to the plaza so Recovery girl can give you a checkup?"
He nodded, but he wasn't exactly paying attention.
While a decent amount of his brain was complaining about being tired, the remaining portion had pretty much a sole thought bouncing through his head.
"I'm not a failure… I defended him this time…"
(Togaru wasn't present enough to be embarrassed about All Might lifting him into a princess carry as he moved to leave the area, but he would be later.)
He had done it.
GUIDANCE AND JACK MANTIS VS NEDZU AND ALL MIGHT: PASS
"Well, that went pretty excellently, wouldn't you say, Shouta-kun?"
"You destroyed half of Ground Gamma, Nedzu. Cementoss is crying in the lounge."
"What was that? I couldn't hear you over the sound of our successful students!"
"That means nothing and you know it, Nedzu!"
"Aizawa… are there any odds your twelve could maybe… room on the other side of the forest during the summer camp?"
"My students aren't going to 'corrupt' yours, Kan."
"THEY STUFFED ME INTO A DITCH! I WAS THERE FOR TWO HOURS!"
The next day:
"Aw, maaaaaan…."
Hitoshi gave his invisible friend a nervous pat on the shoulder.
"I mean… it could have been worse?"
Clearly, that didn't help, as Tooru continued to groan.
"I was so close, too… I don't wanna go to reeeemmmedddiallls…"
"Hey, you'll have Mashirao for company at least!"
At the mention of his name, Mashirao chuckled awkwardly.
"Yeah… I've got a few things to improve on. I'd like to think it was fairly close, at least."
Sen leaned over his desk, looking past Tsu, with a small smile on his typically neutral face. "You were great, man. I wouldn't have passed either of it wasn't for you!"
(Mashirao's noble sacrifice did lead to one revelation: Ectoplasm was ticklish. He was keeping that one in the back for a while.)
While the conversation steered towards some other topic, Hitoshi looked to the corner of the class, where Yui sat, still as a statue- oh, no, she was just reading a book.
Noticing his staring, she looked up, flashing a thumbs up and a small smile.
Well, at least someone was unbothered.
*Shrt*
As sensei walked into the room, silence quickly returned (Bar mumbles from Tooru, but those were quick to dissipate a few moments later.).
Aizawa slouched on the podium. He could only guess that the last few days had been busy, and considering 1-A was set to have their own final exams in the afternoon, he doubted it was set to let up for the man for a while.
"Welcome back, everyone. I will be blunt: your final exams went better than expected."
Hitoshi smiled at that. Hell yeah.
"Unlike the Theoretical, there is no long-term consequences to failing your practical. Our estimate was about half the class failing, so you should all be proud of yourselves."
Aizawa-sensei looked around the class. "Hagakure. Your strategy was sound, but even with your above average strength for your size, punching above your weight class will be a challenge. We'll be trying to get you weapons training sometime after the break."
Tooru nodded, her body regaining some determination. "Yes, Sensei!"
"Ojiro. You lost primarily due to your lack of any ranged potential, but you still did far better than expected. Like Hagakure, weapons training will be a priority. But you still performed admirably by getting as close as you did."
Ojiro shrugged, already thinking. "Maybe… Hmm."
"Lastly, Kodai. You have a bad habit of freezing under pressure. It's to be expected at your age. It'll improve with time."
Yui grunted. "Mmh!"
Aizawa finally nodded. "Good. Nevertheless, it would be unfair to the other classes if you didn't attend the remedial classes. They'll be held during the nights of your training camp. Speaking off…"
Their teacher pulled out a stack of papers, smiling awkwardly, although Hitoshi could assume he meant well.
"All of you will be going."
"YEAH!"
Instantly, a chorus of cheer burst out from the class as Awase passed the papers down the line. Hitoshi took his own with a grin.
He did… not terribly. He'll take it.
"I Did it! Take that, Math!" "Aw, I was hoping I did better in English…" "WOO!"
Aizawa-Sensei cleared his throat, and silence returned.
"You've got a week of normal school left before summer camp, but… Good work, everyone."
Hitoshi chuckled. "Thanks, sensei. Hey, I got to ask… how did Yousetsu manage to beat you?"
Yousetsu at least had the dignity look offended. "Hey, I'll have you know-"
"I left myself open. After that, Nedzu is fond of semantics. I have no doubt he added the rule of binding the handcuff to someone just to see if Awase would do it."
"Hey!"
Chatter flowed through the class, and Izuku smiled from his own spot.
Technically, this was their lunch break, but no one particularly felt like going outside, so they had all snuck back into class. Aizawa-sensei seemed unbothered, continuing his work in the corner of the classroom.
Togaru grinned, chewing on some variant of snack food Izuku hadn't ever seen before.
"I'm glad everyone passed the theory! This training camp thing is going to be great!"
Hitoshi huffed from his spot next to him. "I only got through thanks to Boss and Tsu's tutoring. Even then, my marks were pretty low…"
From his spot in the corner, Aizawa-sensei grunted. "The first set of finals is the hardest of the bunch. U.A is already a top academic school, you know. It's a big test to see if the people who have got the physical skills can keep up academically. You did fine."
"Thanks, sir…"
Aizawa-sensei nodded before returning his gaze to his laptop, although Izuku could tell he was leaving an ear open.
Mashirao nodded. "Be more confident in yourself, Hitoshi. From the way Kyouka talks about your practical, I'd say you've done pretty well for yourself."
Tooru waved her hands about, silencing the chatter. "Enough about exams! I don't wanna think about them anymore!"
Izuku nodded. Admittedly, the exams had been… fairly easy, considering how far Nedzu-Sensei had been pushing him ahead, but he wasn't exactly going to say that out loud.
As for the practical… he hadn't really processed that he had beaten Nedzu and All Might.
He assumed it would set in during his next meeting with Nedzu, alongside the pain from the bone breaking hug his friend had given him when they had both met up after the test.
(Togaru had been… disconcertingly happy to stall All Might while Izuku had run away. But that was… not something Izuku wanted to think about yet.)
Besides, his friends had done pretty well, all things considered!
Izuku pulled out a notebook as chatter moved to more mundane topics. He had been given a task from Nedzu recently to do before summer camp began, and he wanted to get started on it early…
"Hey, you there, Boss?"
Izuku blinked, looking up, before blushing. "O-oh! Sorry, I got lost in thought, there."
Hitoshi shrugged, pointing towards the direction of Yousetsu, who was looking at him with a small grin.
"Sorry for getting you out of the zone, Midoriya! Just wanted to ask… do you wanna come with the rest of us to the mall tomorrow? We need stuff for the camp, so we can make it a whole thing!"
Izuku blinked, but he nodded. "S-sure!
Yousetsu grinned. "Sweet! That makes all twelve of us! Now, if there's that many of us… we might just need some kind of… chaperone…?"
The boy's eyes turned to their teacher, who had obviously only been paying scant attention.
Aizawa-sensei blinked for a few seconds, in what amounted to a thoroughly undramatic stare down, before he sighed.
"Fine. Someone needs to do the teachers' shopping run, anyhow."
"YATTA!"
As the class cheered and Tooru dove to her phone to start putting together lists, Izuku smiled.
He did need a few more notebooks...
"Woah… this place is huge!"
Shouta looked across the group of children, doing an internal headcount as they all ooed and aahed.
Midoriya's eyes snapped from store to store, muttering up a storm.
"I've never been to a mall this big… so many stores!"
Shouji, his assigned buddy (Shouta had insisted that if he was going to look after brats, they were going to be logical about it, and he assigned them himself. Perfect opportunity for teambuilding, even if minute.) Shrugged. "It's the best in the area for items designed for heteromorphs. I came here to get some more furniture for my apartment."
Jirou, smirking next to her own buddy in Hagakure, needled the taller boy with a jack. "Only because we had to bully you into not living like a monk, big guy."
If the teen looked embarrassed, no one seemed to mention it.
Shouta cleared his throat. "Alright, you all. Keep your phones on, and reconvene here when you're done, got it? I'm not going to get in trouble by losing one of you."
"Yes, sensei!"
As the group scattered in a myriad directions, Shouta pulled out the list he had been given from his pocket.
He needed a new sleeping bag, Nemuri needed a fluffy pillow for the lodge, the collective group of the three teachers and the Pussycats needed snacks… Kan needed his supplements…
He huffed. There was no way of doing this efficiently, was there?
He stuffed the note back into his pocket and followed after his students.
There was no harm in trailing after them while he looked for the right stores.
Sen counted the number of items he needed, smirking. At this rate, he'd be done with his shopping in no time.
"Alright, I need some bug spray, an extra set of shoes if I can… an extra set of sleep gloves… snacks for the drive… what do you need, Yui…Yui?"
He snapped around, scrambling. Where the hell had Yui gone?
"Yui? Hey, Yui… oh."
He retraced his steps slightly, finding Yui gawking at something in a store.
He walked up towards her. It was, to his completely minimal surprise, a figure from a show he didn't recognise.
"Yui, you're supposed to say when you need to stop somewhere!"
Yui turned to him, blinking slowly, before her eyes widened as she looked to the floor.
"…sorry."
Wow, now I feel like an asshole…
he shook his head, smiling. "Alright, just try to say something next time, alright? Or poke me on the shoulder."
"Mmh!"
"Alright, now let's get in here and you can tell me about what you're looking at. Deal?"
Yui's face lit up as she approached the store properly.
Hell yeah. Saved it.
"I didn't expect there to be that big of a niche for multi-arm quirked clothing. You don't seem them around all too often, do you?"
Yousetsu looked to Mezou, who shrugged. He and Reiko had joined up with Izuku and Mezou a while back, since neither of them had much to shop for.
"It's an international brand. The Nordic Coalition has a lot of people with multiple limbs, so they got their start there. Fourth Kind has a brand deal with them, so it ended up doing pretty well in Japan..."
Izuku nodded. "Kind of like how Japan has lots of fire quirks, yeah?"
Mezou nodded. "My grandfather moved from there when he was rather young. Most of the Shoujis have quirks like his."
Reiko looked to Mezou's current outfit, which was of a similar make. "I gather your supportive of them, no?"
He nodded, moving towards the isle that contained the needed exercise clothes. Yousetsu was able to make out a few other mutant friendly general items, mostly limited to supporting extra limbs or a lack of them. An entire section was dedicated to Wing slots. He could guess who inspired that, but the Cutout of the number three made it fairly easy.
(Internally, he recalled memories of digging through clothes to find socks and shoes that fit Tsu's larger feet before uncle Ganma got the promotion he needed to be able to afford to buy proper shoes. Being able to come to a place like this would have been a lifesaver.)
Mezou finished his shopping, grabbing a pleasant navy-blue jacket.
As he paid for his things, he looked to the four of them. "I've got everything I need. Where to next?"
Izuku mumbled for a moment before nodding. "Right! I need to buy a few more notebooks for the trip!"
"Didn't you buy a new one a week ago?"
To his credit, Midoriya didn't stutter.
"Yes?"
"Oh, boy…"
Hitoshi paged through the isles of Hero merch, looking through each with an inquisitive eye.
Mashirao huffed from his position behind him. "And remind me again why we're looking through the merch you have consistently insisted you hate?"
Hitoshi shrugged. "Because it's Boss' birthday next week and the obvious best gift to give him is the worst piece of Hero merch I can find, duh."
A few birthdays had come and gone since the year had started. Mashirao's birthday had been a relatively simple affair, with a small cake and a few presents from his classmates. Sen and Tooru's were practically one after the other, so they had celebrated in kind; they went out to a restaurant and ate more than they probably should have as Hero students, but no one held it against them. Hitoshi's own birthday, meanwhile, had been right as exams had begun. Even if he had wanted a celebration (he had been very insistent on the lack of anything major. Celebrations for himself weren't exactly his thing), there wasn't much time for anything other than a few packages and a ready-made box of cupcakes, but he didn't exactly mind.
Izuku, meanwhile…
From the gist he had gotten from Togaru, Izuku hadn't ever really had anything proper from around age six, other than last year, but that was just him, Togaru, and Miss Midoriya. The boy was supposedly jubilant at the time, sure, but the others wanted to get him something cooler.
Hitoshi was, for fairly obvious reasons, excluded from the planning, but he could at least find a few gag gifts to throw his way.
"Ah hah. Here we are, Mashirao… the greatest gift selection known to man."
His friend took a step back, eyes wide in awe.
Surrounding them were the most atrociously bad plushies, figures, and assorted items he had maybe ever seen.
Hitoshi whispered their name with reverence.
"The Knock-off merchandise."
There was no way anyone else could top his gifts.
-
----
------
You could kill them right now, you know. Dash in, fingers around the throat of Eraserhead. Go for the big one after that. By then, Dabi will have torched the purple one before he can touch you and get you brainwashed, then-
From his spot next to him, Dabi let out a small huff. "Those are the U.A brats, huh? They don't look like much."
Tomura let out a growl, the red anger returning to the corners of his vision. "And neither do you, Staples."
"Touche."
He did his best not to lose his composure. The two of them had come to the mall to buy supplies, not to encounter anyone.
Dabi took another chip from his bag, crunching as he sent a glare in the direction of the brats. "So, are we going to… do anything?" They are your nemeses, or whatever."
Tomura shook his head. "First of all, I don't have 'nemeses', and second of all, as much as I'd like to, it'd jeopardize Sensei's plan."
He spat out that last word with a little more vitriol than he expected himself to.
The pyromancer's expression didn't change much, but Tomura could tell he disapproved. "Right. And you still won't tell me when I get to meet your illustrious 'Sensei'."
At that, he felt a twinge of complex emotions. "Preferably never."
After all, Sensei had been… detached, as of late. Distracted, almost as if he had other things he was focusing on that he wasn't telling Tomura about. More importantly…
The League wasn't Sensei's. it was his. And now that he had his full raid party, he wanted to keep it optimal.
Dabi raised an eyebrow. "Alright, then, Boss. Let's get out of here before we're spotted, then."
Tomura nodded, grabbing his drink from the very tired looking attendant who either didn't hear them or didn't care. "Right."
He pulled out the scratchy list of items his group had requested.
"Kurogiri needs a new ironing board, the new mini rouge needs… girl supplies, whatever that means."
"I'll handle that."
"Good. And the paladin needs… crickets? Really?"
"Hey, nobody's stopping you from drinking those terrible energy drinks. Everyone needs a vice."
"First of all, screw you, asshole. Second of all-"
------
----
-
U.A's auditorium was cramped.
It felt rather ridiculous to say that, considering how big the school was, but when all of its students coalesced into one place…
They had pretty much crammed 1-T into the corner of the room, but that was neither here nor there.
In the centre of the room, meanwhile, Nedzu's speech droned on.
"It is with great happiness that I grant incredulous thanks to my magnificently excellently unique group of staff for their incredible success in these past of few months. Their staunch efforts at the start of this new year must not go foolishly unrewarded, and…"
From his spot next to Izuku, Kyouka sighed under her breath. "How many adjectives can one guy know?"
"He memorised a thesaurus, apparently. Frustrating students with long speeches in one of his few vices. Leave him be."
"Ughh…"
Izuku tuned out the speech, instead looking to the rest of the school's students.
Pretty much every third year and most of the second years had completely touched out, pretty much sleeping in their seats, with the exception of the management students, who were writing notes as fast as they could, looking at their principal with awe.
(Awe that could only be preserved at a distance. Izuku held plenty of respect for his Sensei, sure, but awe was a quality lost when he witnessed the chimera eighteen hours into researching a case, shriveled in his chair and having consumed more tea than the amount of blood in his body.)
Class 1-A had the poor fate of being in the very middle of the room, straight in front of Nedzu. Most of them seemed confused or bored. 1-B, in their spot above them, seemed to be the same, gossiping about some topic or another.
He got a proper look at Bakugou for the first time in a while. The boy was looking straight down, seemingly waiting for the thing to end so he could go home.
(From the line of broken telephone of 1-A to 1-T to Izuku, the boy was doing his… best. As Nedzu and others had put it, the thought that 'the great Bakugou Katsuki cannot change' was a flawed one. Nonetheless, it stuck to him like glue, sticking in the back of his elsewise logical (lie) stream of thoughts. Like Bakugou seemed to be doing, he wouldn't speak to him properly until that idea was shrunk to a speck of childhood ideals.)
"Ah, but I've talking for long enough, yes?"
Izuku blinked looking back up to his teacher, who was snapping his pages together with a smile.
"Well, then, I best finish up, no? I hope you all have an excellent break, and I look forward to seeing you all again when class resumes! You are… dismissed!"
Instantly, the room erupted in the form of the joyous shouts of nearly every U.A student.
Togaru leaped out of his own chair with a shout. "Freedom!"
The rest of Izuku's friends were quick to follow, standing and chatting as the rest of the school flowed out the room.
"I want food!" "A meal for acquiring victory over the first portion of schooling sounds wise." "Sure, Reiko." "Mmh!"
"Hold on a second."
All eyes turned to Kyouka, who pointed a finger towards Hitoshi…
Who was fast asleep.
"Huh."
Izuku gave him a poke on the shoulder, before looking up. "He's… out cold."
The group stood around their sleeping friend, contemplative.
Yousetsu shrugged. "Well… I guess we can just carry him?"
A chorus of agreements spread throughout the group, and Mezou stepped forward, gently cradling the snoring boy in a crooked arm.
He nodded. "Secured. Now… you mentioned food."
As the class finally began to leave, Izuku smiled, before following after them.
Things were finally going well. There had been a few tripping points, sure, but… all they had to do now was keep it up.
(Just out of view of them, standing to the side, Present Mic nudged his coworker in the ribs.
"Hey, that looks familiar!"
Eraserhead sighed. "Don't remind me."
Midnight chuckled next to them. "I remember that day clearly. It was Nedzu's third or fourth speech as principal, after you joined the Hero course… Oboro had to drag you out on a cloud, since you still slept like a rock back then!"
"You two are insufferable.")
Everything was coming together nicely, in his opinion. The time for the objective push would soon be upon them.
Through the cables, he felt his Noumu growing in strength. The ones he had personally picked for this next show were bound to impress.
"Something seems to have you chipper, sir."
He smiled. "You need not worry, Doctor. I am simply… excited."
"I… I see."
"Go on. Tell me your news."
The doctor quickly extracted his tablet. "Well, with the coming I-Expo, our asset there is set to deploy, although we predict minimal success, considering the Heroes present there."
"Of course. No matter. The copy of Muscle Augmentation offered was a very weak one. It shall succeed in putting fear into All Might."
"Right. As for the other plan… Tomura and his group had an encounter, although they remained hidden. Nevertheless, they are getting… antsy."
He sighed. Tomura was fickle. Even though they boy was his primary plan, especially important in the event that this current endeavour… failed, he felt a tinge of annoyance at the child's neediness.
"Very well. Inform them that I shall reveal their target soon, and to prepare. They are too valuable to be lost yet, despite how… bizarre they are."
"Yes, Sir."
All For One smiled once more, looking at the picture he had displayed on his monitor.
Soon.