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| An hour later, at the teacher's room… |
…
-Knock, knock-
"You may enter."
The door opened, and two figures stepped into the room.
One was Monoma, looking exhausted and weary, but otherwise fine physically.
The other was Suzaku, who, in bright contrast, was covered in bandages and with one arm locked in a cast. Though, despite his pitiful state, his usual smug expression remained the same as always.
All Might sweatdropped a bit at the sight. "Are you alright, young Suzaku?"
Suzaku raised an eyebrow and gestured at himself. "What do you think?"
All Might's smile twitched. "...I apologize."
"If you're really sorry, approve all my tests until I graduate."
"Unfortunately, I can't do that."
"Tsk. Fake-ass apology."
A high-pitched voice came from another seat. "Now now, don't get too upset, young Suzaku, it's me who asked All Might to take part in this test, after all. Please, have a seat for now."
It was Principal Nezu who spoke, gesturing toward a pair of empty chairs across from them.
The two students didn't argue, dropping into their seats as they looked between the big monitor at the end of the table and the small group of teachers reunited around them.
All Might, Nezu, Vlad King—and Aizawa too. The latter sure looked pissed, glaring with evident resentment at Suzaku.
The redhead smiled at him unapologetically, making the already blatant gaze from the Erasure hero even more so.
"..."
"..."
-Clap!-
Nezu broke the battle of stares with a sudden clap, gesturing toward the screens. "Very well. I think now that since everyone's here, we can begin the review of your match against All Might."
Suzaku and Monoma nodded, focusing on the monitor along with everyone else.
-Click-
Right the next instant, the screen turned on, and the recording of the entire match began playing, showing the pair of students walking without hurry as they carried poor Aizawa inside the bag for over a kilometer, all the way to the center of the fake city.
Once there, the clash with All Might began. The screen showed his initial attack that ravaged the city in order to shatter their spirits, only to then show the moment All Might realized that the only one getting something shattered was him when he noticed Erasure was at play. Next came his smug lecture after the initial surprise, acting like a teacher to Suzaku for not thinking ahead, believing that all he had to do was to wait until Erasure ran out—only for Suzaku to come up with the next line.
{"What do you think, All Might? I present to you… my permanent and portable Erasure buff!"}
—thus, revealing after those words a bound and gagged Aizawa beneath the cover of the bag they had been carrying.
As the redhead's almost-proud-sounding voice echoed from the speakers of the screen, Vlad King closed his eyes and rubbed his face in shame.
He hadn't gotten to see the fight earlier on since he had been on break… but what the hell was this?
He had received a heads-up from Nezu, hence he knew why Aizawa was here when he hadn't been supposed to participate in this class's exam in the first place. But being warned about the crime and seeing it first hand were completely different things.
'Damn it… I knew this kid was crazy, but this is just too much.'
He glanced at Aizawa. As expected, the man's face was unreadable—yet, there was still a faint glimmer of restrained irritation in his expression.
-Click-
Nezu paused the video and turned to the students.
"Hahaha, you two are truly creative young ones! Copying a teacher's Quirk was one thing—but kidnapping him to keep the Quirk permanent, and thus be able to punch your other teacher? That's thinking outside the box!"
Monoma looked more ashamed by the second with every "crime" Nezu listed.
Suzaku, on the other hand… well, you could guess what his reaction was.
Suddenly, Vlad King raised a hand. "Um, Principal, I don't think this is something we should be praising."
"Oh? Well, I do consider it praise-worthy. Don't you agree, Aizawa?"
The dry-eyed hero nodded, albeit reluctantly. "It was my fault for being unprepared. For just a pair of students to beat me into submission that quickly... It's nothing but my own responsibility."
Vlad King stared blankly at him. 'Aizawa, are you seriously justifying this?'
He turned back to Nezu, still not quite convinced. "Still, don't you think this is behavior we should at least discourage?"
Nezu shook his head. "This was a very particular situation in which the students needed Aizawa's Quirk to stand a chance against seemingly impossible odds—even though teachers were instructed to give them at least some way to win."
Nezu glanced at All Might, who scratched the back of his head in shame.
Yeah, he might've gotten a little carried away after Suzaku beat him up.
While All Might reflected on his actions, Nezu turned back to Vlad. "In any case, there's hardly any other scenario where students would need to neutralize teachers outside of their assigned match—unless one of them had a Quirk like young Monoma here. Even fewer would have the skill to pull it off. If anything, I think we should congratulate them. They found a clever solution to the existing power gap—and actually managed to execute it. No matter how distracted Aizawa may have been, he's still a Pro Hero and a teacher at this institution."
Vlad King sighed and nodded. When he put it like that… it did sound like they'd pulled off the play of the century.
Aizawa, meanwhile, just let out a frustrated sigh.
'Maybe becoming a teacher was a mistake.'
While Aizawa pondered his life choices, Nezu continued.
"If these two had involved Aizawa-kun in the fight directly, then it would've been another matter entirely—this was supposed to be a two-vs-one exam, after all. But they only used him to recharge Erasure, keeping him away from the battle itself. So I see no reason to reproach them on that front."
Then, he turned to Suzaku with a small smile.
"Besides, like young Suzaku said, you were villains in this scenario. It's only natural for the heroes to use one of your colleagues against you."
Suzaku nudged Monoma with his still-working arm. "This guy gets me."
"..." The blonde could only hold back his tears.
After that brief exchange, Nezu resumed the video, and the group continued watching.
They went through most of the first fight, especially pointing out how Suzaku had clearly missed a golden opportunity to end things early because he got too immersed in fighting—which, in his defense, had been with the one guy who, under normal conditions, could have erased him from existence with a flick of his fingers.
During the part where All Might took Aizawa away and the team had no choice but to run away, they also highlighted a few alternative strategies that could've led them to victory either way.
And once again, All Might's questionable restraint—or lack thereof—was addressed, though they didn't pin the blame entirely on him. He had taken quite a beating earlier, after all.
They warned Suzaku that, while taunting was a valid tactic in combat to destabilize your opponent, it's not advisable to do so when he can obliterate you with a single punch.
A few questions were raised during the part when he first threw the smoke bomb, slipped All Might's detection, and almost put the handcuffs on the hero, questioning how he had done it. But since the smoke also blocked the camera's vision, they had to settle with Suzaku's: "I'm just a slippery guy."
And thus, they reached the last part, with one of the cameras capturing Monoma desperately running towards the finish line while looking frantically in panic, while on the other side of the battlefield, Suzaku dropped at least a dozen smoke bombs and escaped All Might's grasp.
Thus, in the end, both Suzaku and Monoma were given a passing grade, exempting them from extra classes at the summer camp.
…
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|The next day…|
…
—Yawn…
Suzaku let out a long yawn from his seat, glancing around the classroom in bored silence, his head leaning lazily on his palm—the one that still could move at least.
His other arm was still in a cast. Recovery Girl had told him it would be better by tomorrow, but for now he'd have to settle for still only having a single working arm.
Despite that, today he felt oddly at peace. Maybe it was because the worst had already passed, and he wouldn't need to worry about studying for a while. Or maybe because he had actually slept more than usual—which somehow only made him feel more sleepy after waking up.
Strange how that worked.
Either way, he just enjoyed the rare moment of peace, which was quite the change of pace from what he had been facing ever since he got into this school.
Fights against robots. Murdering the bunch who once kidnapped him. Getting through the Sports Festival. Murdering a whole squad of villains. Going to the internships. Beating up a serial killer. Almost dying in a fire, only to save himself by transforming into some alien-god version of himself, before then dipping out of the crime scene. Returning to school, only to have the same serial killer he'd beaten up earlier put a target on his head.
Then, yesterday, he fought the strongest man on Earth.
He snorted, grinning slightly at the absurdity of the past events. 'How long has it been…? four—five months?'
Well, it had certainly been a hectic semester.
He sighed.
'Well, I suppose this is what I get from getting into a hero school. Endless chaotic stuff.'
Arriving at that conclusion, he decided to let the past be the past and bask in the calmness of the moment... though he couldn't help but give the ceiling a wary look.
'Let's just hope this upcoming camp isn't as chaotic… 'cause I mean, it's a camp in the woods, there shouldn't be any abnormal stuff happening.'
He paused for a second, reconsidering the amount of trouble that seemed to be happening at every event this school organized, before pursing his lips.
'Maybe I'll have to wrestle with a bear, but that shouldn't be too much trouble.'
"What's up, man. What's got you looking so pensive?" Suddenly, Tetsutetsu approached, having noticed Suzaku's pensive stare as he gave the ceiling an intense gaze.
"Say, what are the weak points of a bear? The snout?"
Tetsutetsu raised an eyebrow. "What's with that?"
Suzaku gave him a look as if he were asking a dumb question. "You know, if we go to the camp and a bear attacks, then someone has to put it down."
"You want to fight a bear? You crazy man?"
"I've fought a guy with a bear Quirk before. It shouldn't be too different."
"Where did you even fight a guy like that?"
Suzaku was silent for a beat.
"Uh… you know, places."
"What places?"
"You know, places where guys with bear Quirks tend to be."
"..."
—Tack!
Fortunately, before the interrogation went further than that, the door to the classroom was slid open, and Vlad King strode in, giving everyone a nod in greeting.
"Good evening, everyone."
While the class greeted him back, he began setting down his things at the desk. Then, grabbing a notepad from amidst his stuff, he looked up again.
"I've got your results for both the practical exam and the written tests."
""...!""
Everyone tensed in sync, even Suzaku.
Grinning satisfied by their reaction, Vlad King began fiddling with the notepad, speaking as his eyes remained on the device. "First, we'll get a look at your written exams. I'm sure you are dying to know how you did."
After that, he connected the device to the board, and right then, a projection of the notepad's screen showed, making every eye in the classroom glued to it.
And soon, disbelieving gasps began following.
"This—this can't be."
"Impossible."
"Sensei, you must've put the rankings upside down!"
"I think I ate something weird… I'm hallucinating."
"Is that…?"
All eyes turned slowly toward Suzaku.
Even Itsuka seemed in disbelief.
"Him? First place?" they all asked in unison.
The redhead blinked at the board, then glanced around the room before a smug grin crept onto his face.
"Good grief. I guess this is what happens when natural talent puts in the effort." He muttered aloud, running his only working hand through his hair with arrogance.
Vlad King deadpanned. He squinted at the notepad.
Each subject had been graded by different teachers, and those scores were combined into each student's final marks. It was practically impossible that all of them had mistakenly given Suzaku such high scores.
'Still… maybe I should double-check after class.' Vlad thought, not even he being able to believe what was depicted there.
Setting that decision aside, Vlad returned his attention to the room. "Fortunately, no one failed the written portion… However, I can't say the same for the final exam."
With a tap, the screen changed—this time showing a list of the teams and their results.
"Although it's not much of a reason for celebration, there was only one team that failed. The three-man team of Shishida, Bondo, and Rin. So, as I mentioned before, everyone else will be attending the camp, though you three will be attending extra classes while at it."
The trio in question all looked visibly downcast at the not-so-shocking news.
And while the trio brooded over their fate, Vlad King picked up a stack of papers and began passing one to everyone.
When Suzaku's arrived, the redhead picked it up and gave it a curious glance.
It was a pamphlet.
In it, the duration, location, and so many other details of the camp were plastered, making the redhead give it a curious look.
There was even a section that listed what stuff was recommended to be brought.
'Well, I lack like 70% of what's in here.' He snorted, flipping the page, and seeing even more stuff. 'Never mind, I lack almost everything… I guess I'll have to go shopping. Good thing I'm a millionaire.'
Once everyone had their pamphlet, Vlad King resumed his speech. "Give these papers a look, and prepare properly for the camp in two weeks. Remember that tomorrow there'll be no classes, and after that we'll have the closing ceremony, so use that time to recover and prepare yourselves mentally. This will be a camp worthy of U.A. So if you know better, you should expect this to be more than a simple summer camp."
The students sighed. Nothing was ever simple with this school.
Suzaku's mind, though, remained on the "tomorrow there'll be no classes" part.
"Nice."
…
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|The next day…|
…
Suzaku casually unboarded the train with a backpack slung over his shoulder, giving his surroundings a curious glance.
Unlike yesterday—or most other days he spent at U.A.—he was now wearing normal clothes. A black sweater that turned red toward the bottom, and pants of a similar color scheme, though the red appeared only in thin stripes along the sides of the legs.
"Hmm, as subway-ish as ever."
"Yo!"
As he made that clever observation, someone tapped his shoulder from behind.
Suzaku turned around without much surprise. It was Tetsutetsu, holding up his hand enthusiastically.
"Yo," Suzaku greeted him, less energetically, raising his hand in return before giving a quick glance around. "Where are the others?"
Tetsutetsu pointed his thumb behind him, toward the subway exit. "Everyone's waiting at the entrance to the mall."
"So I'm the last to arrive?"
"Yeah, but don't sweat i—"
"Perfect," Suzaku said with a proud smirk.
"..." Tetsutetsu shot him a deadpan look.
Ultimately, though, he decided to ignore the redhead's antics and started walking away, gesturing for him to follow. "Come on, let's not keep them waiting."
With a simple nod, Suzaku followed after Tetsutetsu.
Not long after, they left the subway station and stepped onto a one-way street that led directly to the biggest mall in all of Japan. Its sheer size was astounding compared to any other normal mall.
The Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall. A place with tons of stores filled with products and services for every person, age, and Quirk.
Suzaku gave the grandiose building an impressed look before returning his gaze to the still-walking Tetsutetsu ahead, who was now approaching a group standing by the entrance.
It was about half the class, including the ever-present Itsuka, Monoma, Setsuna, Sen, Kosei, Reiko, Komori, Ibara, and a bunch of others.
Today, they'd come up with the idea of meeting here to buy everything they were going to need for the camp, and Suzaku had received the invitation just as he was waking up from a nice sleep.
While he'd considered declining—having just woken up and still in sleepy mode—he ultimately decided to join. He figured he might as well get his shopping list out of the way now instead of doing it by himself at the last minute.
Hence why he was here on a class-free day.
As the two finally arrived at the group, Tetsutetsu energetically pumped his fist into the air. "We're all finally here!"
"He sure took his sweet time," Monoma mumbled, glaring at Suzaku with a dissatisfied gaze.
The redhead met his gaze, shrugging slightly. "I could have arrived faster if you had scheduled this for later."
Itsuka shot him a look. "What do you mean by later? It's already 2 PM."
"That's too early."
"How is it early?"
"I just woke up an hour ago. How isn't that early?"
"You can't just wake up at 1 PM!"
"Uh, yeah, I can. I just did, duh."
"You…"
-Clap!-
Setsuna interrupted both with a sudden clap. "Alright, enough bickering, you two! Since we're all finally here, let's get to shopping right away!"
""Oh!""
With that enthusiastic battle cry, the group began moving.
Pamphlets in hand, everyone took a moment to reconsider what they thought they'd need for the trip. The fact that they'd be staying an entire week made them wonder if they really had enough of everything.
As such, everyone had plenty of things to buy right now
For a while, the group let the wind guide them. They just visited whichever store seemed the most interesting.
In a world full of Quirks, there was something for everyone who needed it—and even for those who didn't.
"Woah, these gloves are amazing!" Tetsutetsu yelled, slipping on some cool-looking gloves covered in metal plating, like the hands of a knight.
The store owner approached, looking at him a bit hesitantly. "Uhm, those gloves are for people whose Quirks are centered on their hands, and who need to contain their byproducts—like fire, acid, or raw energy. They can handle multiple hazards."
"Oh. I thought they just had a cool design… I guess I won't be able to buy one."
"Well, no one says you can't."
"Then I'm buying!"
They had quite a bit of fun buying things they hadn't actually planned to get in the first place.
"Hey, isn't that the motorcycle you recommended?"
"Yeah. Who'd have thought it'd be here today?"
Suzaku and Itsuka even caught sight of a motorcycle exhibit, stopping there for a while.
She seemed entranced by one of the motorcycles' designs, checking it out from multiple angles while Suzaku simply watched from the side, sometimes amused by Itsuka's interest.
Something she was quick to catch on to, shooting Suzaku a dissatisfied look.
"What?"
Suzaku's hands shot up in innocence. "I didn't say anything."
"Is that so? I could've sworn you found me looking at the motorcycle funny."
"I think you're imagining things—probably because you're still upset that I scored better than you on the written exams."
"You… That was luck!"
"The luck to have been born a prodigy."
"Ugh." She scowled but couldn't refute it.
How the hell could he have scored better than her with just some studying otherwise?
Ultimately, though, Suzaku gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder.
"Well, don't sweat it too much. I already forgot most of what we studied."
"…"
As their bickering ended with that sad statement, they continued looking through the motorcycle exhibit for a while longer.
Although they had to stop when the group called out to them, making them leave the exhibit and resume their chaotic march through the mall.
Of course, after some time, those with more sense of responsibility—ahem, Itsuka—reminded everyone what they were actually there for, and got the group moving again with their real objective in mind.
They visited camping supply stores, a clothing store, a convenience shop for smaller necessities, and eventually made their way to the center of the mall, deciding to take a short pause.
Mostly because they'd been at it for over an hour, and also because there were certain things everyone preferred to shop for alone.
Underwear—ahem.
And so, after a quick break, the group disbanded, promising to meet up again here in thirty minutes.
Of course, not everyone wandered off alone.
"Huff… Making a social life is so exhausting."
With a sigh, Suzaku plopped into a seat, glancing around at the moving crowd with a disinterested stare.
He'd already bought most of what he needed during the earlier rounds. If there was anything left he was interested in, it was some snacks. But he figured since he was with the group, he'd eat with them after everyone finished their shopping.
Wasn't he a good friend?
"Heh." Suzaku snorted, looking around for a while, before eventually sighing and picking up his phone. He might as well kill time playing Quirk Ninja, Quirk Joyride, Quirkometry Dash, or whatever other game with an atrocious name he'd downloaded.
"Oh, right, I downloaded Quirkalatro."
He tapped the app and soon began getting immersed in the game, doing his best to get as many multipliers as possible, and letting time pass as he waited for everyone.
That is, until something happened.
"Hey, aren't you that U.A. student? Y'know, the one that ranked first in the Sports Festival? What a coincidence. Could you give me your autograph?"
A falsely enthusiastic voice came from beside him, right before the person sat down and casually slung an arm over his shoulder.
'Who does this dude think I am? His girlfriend?'
Suzaku immediately considered sucker-punching him to teach him some manners. The last thing he wanted was to be molested or anything like that. He might actually kill someone in front of a crowd if it came to that.
But when he looked up at the guy's face, Suzaku froze.
He knew that face.
"You're…"
There was a beat of silence before the person under the black hoodie smiled from ear to ear.
"Hah. How did you know who I was? …Ah, right, you saw me on TV, didn't you? I suppose you could recognize me then. There was quite the announcement aimed at you during our broadcast."
Pale gray hair and an emaciated face that only made his smile creepier.
Shigaraki Tomura, All for One's disciple, and the leader of the League of Villains.
Suddenly, Shigaraki's fingers curled against Suzaku's neck, leaving only one finger not touching it.
"Still, this is our first time meeting, right? I suppose you're not acquainted with my Quirk. In short, if I touch you with all five fingers, you're as good as dead… So don't try to get smart with me. I just want a little friendly chat. Is that too much to ask?"
The man's red eyes locked directly onto Suzaku's behind his glasses.
There was a short silence before a small smile appeared on Suzaku's face.
"Hah... Sure. I don't see why not."
…
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-To be Continued…-
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(A/N: Now that I'm rereading this chapter, I felt it a bit rushed. What do you think? Maybe I'm just being schizophrenic thanks to having just woken up.)
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