"This is so damn boring."
Toga's voice cut through the silence of Takeyama's penthouse. She dropped backward onto the white leather sofa, the dull thud of her body against the cushions the only sound in the room. Her combat boots hung in the air for a second before gently tapping a silk pillow.
"I could be stabbing a forest monster right now, one of the squealing, writhing ones. Instead, I'm here, watching dust settle on expensive furniture. It's torture."
Yu didn't look up from the fashion magazine she was flipping through. Her perfectly manicured fingers turned a page with a whisper. Her posture was the very picture of relaxation, but the phone resting beside her, its screen split into a dozen security feeds from the building, told a different story.
"Torture is having to choose between fuchsia and magenta for the fall season, believe me," she said, her tone light but with an edge of steel. "You stay here. You're safe. Period."
Toga shot up, the leather sofa groaning in protest. Her golden, cat-like eyes shone with a contained energy that seemed to vibrate in the air.
"But I can be useful! I'm not some porcelain doll to be left on a shelf." She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "I can be a bug. Or a squirrel. No one would suspect a cute little squirrel with a knife. I'd be the perfect scout. I'd give them intel, a tactical advantage. They'd know what they were facing before they even saw it."
Nemuri, who had been watching the scene from a nearby armchair with a steaming cup of tea in her hands, let out a small smile.
"Toga-chan, with all due respect to your creativity, I doubt the squirrels in that forest carry combat knives. You'd raise suspicion with the first growl."
"I could learn to use a sharp acorn!" Toga insisted, frustration starting to color her voice. She stood up and began to pace the rug, a caged predator. "It's not fair! Inko-san went with them, and her Quirk is basically making the salt shaker float to you! Mine is way more fun. And more useful in a fight."
"Inko-san's Quirk is much more than it seems," Yu said, turning another page of the magazine with a deliberate snap, a sound as sharp as a command. "And yours, dear, makes you the number one target on Shigaraki's wish list. So the answer is still no." Finally, she lowered the magazine and looked directly at her, her eyes devoid of humor. "You stay here, where I can see you through a screen and where the only things you can stab are the cushions. And if you put a single scratch on one of them, I'll deduct it from your dessert allowance for a month."
Toga huffed, a sharp, petulant sound. She crossed her arms, the perfect image of a child throwing a tantrum in the body of a killer.
"It's not fair," she repeated in a resentful mumble, flopping back onto the sofa.
Nemuri stood and walked over to her, her movements silent and graceful. Her presence alone seemed to soften the sharp edges of the room, diluting the tension.
"This isn't about fairness, Toga," she said softly, sitting beside her. The leather sank under her weight. "It's about trust. Izuku and the others are out there, in a place they don't know, facing something they don't understand."
Toga glanced at her, her defiant expression wavering for an instant under Nemuri's calm gaze.
"So what am I? The babysitter for the most expensive apartment in Tokyo? The one who makes sure nobody steals the silverware?"
"No," Nemuri replied, and her smile turned a little sharper, more genuine, with a hint of conspiracy. "You're the secret weapon nobody knows is here. Think about it. All the enemies know Mt. Lady lives in this tower. They know it's a makeshift base of operations."
She paused, letting the words sink in.
"If something happened to this tower, if someone tried to get in while Yu is away… who do you think would be their only real defense? The building's security? A couple of alarms?"
The perspective changed everything. Toga's shoulders, which had been slumped in anger, slowly straightened. She blinked, processing the idea. She wasn't a prisoner in a golden cage. She was the guardian of the sanctuary. The last line of defense. A slow, predatory smile finally replaced her pout.
"Oh," she said, her voice losing its childish tone and taking on a dark, satisfied edge. "Well, if you put it that way… I guess someone has to protect the cushions from the bad guys."
Yu smiled to herself without looking up from her magazine. Nemuri always knew exactly what to say. The penthouse was safe, for now. But her mind, like everyone else's, was hundreds of miles away, in a forest full of shadows and teenagers too brave for their own good.
The bus ride to the U.A. training camp was a cacophony of contained teenage energy.
"I'll bet fifty yen the first test is survival!" Kirishima shouted from his seat, his voice booming with his usual enthusiasm. "We'll have to hunt our own food and build a shelter!"
"As long as we don't have to eat Kaminari if he gets lost, I'm cool with it," Sero joked, earning a friendly punch on the shoulder from the subject of his quip.
"Hey! I'm a walking power source, I'd be useful!" Kaminari retorted, rubbing his arm with a grimace.
"Sure, if we need to charge a phone in the middle of nowhere," Jiro muttered, her earbuds hanging around her neck. Kaminari shrank in his seat.
In the back of the bus, the atmosphere was noticeably different. The noise from the rest of the class seemed like a distant hum. Izuku stared out the window, the green landscape rushing past, a blur of trees and fields. Beside him, Ochako held a camp brochure, though her eyes weren't really focused on the words. She had been rereading the same paragraph for several minutes.
"Are you sure about this, Izuku-kun?" she asked softly, just loud enough for him and those closest to hear. "You taking the lead like this? Your specialty is… well, thinking things through, analyzing. This feels… direct."
"It's the best plan," he answered, his voice firm, without looking away from the scenery. His eyes followed the flight of a bird keeping pace with the bus. "We need to conserve your energy and Momo's for when it really matters. If this is just a test from the teachers, like I suspect, it makes no sense to show all our cards from the start. It would be a waste."
His gaze shifted for a second to his mother's reflection in the window, sitting a few rows ahead. His voice softened.
"And Mom… she has to stay completely under the radar. She's our ace in the hole, the surprise no one expects. They're going to underestimate her, and that's exactly what we need."
Momo, sitting across the aisle with Toru, gave a nearly imperceptible nod, showing she had been listening. She leaned in slightly toward them.
"He's right, Ochako-san. It's the most efficient distribution of resources. We need a vanguard, a main body, and a rear guard with an element of surprise. Izuku will act as the vanguard. His role will be to gauge the enemy's strength and break their initial formations. We'll be the shield, maintaining a defensive posture to protect our most important asset."
"Works for me," Izuku said with a half smile, finally looking away from the window to face his friends.
"Our most important asset is about to fall asleep if this trip takes much longer!" Toru complained, resting her head on Momo's shoulder, which made the other girl jump slightly. "Let me know when we get to the part with explosions and fun stuff, will you?"
From her seat, Inko turned slightly and gave them a reassuring smile. Her eyes met Izuku's, and in that simple glance, she conveyed all the confidence in the world. He nodded, feeling a weight lift from his shoulders.
The bus came to a jarring halt that woke Toru and pulled everyone from their conversations. The door hissed open, but they weren't in front of a cozy lodge or a campsite. They were on the edge of a cliff, with a vast, dense forest stretching out below them.
"Welcome, kitties!" a voice full of almost manic energy rang out.
Two figures appeared out of nowhere, striking a pose with an explosive synchronization that made the class blink. It was the Wild, Wild Pussycats, dressed in their colorful hero costumes.
"The camp is right down there!" announced Pixie-Bob, the hero in the blue outfit, pointing to a barely visible spot miles away at the foot of the mountain.
"You have exactly three hours to get there on foot," continued Mandalay, the one in red, with a smile that didn't bode well. "Lunch is waiting for you there."
"Oh, and one little detail!" Pixie-Bob added with a wink. "You'll have to pass through the Forest of Magical Beasts. Good luck!"
Before anyone could form a coherent protest, the ground beneath their feet trembled. Pixie-Bob's Quirk came to life, and the land of the cliff tilted violently forward, turning into a slide of dirt and rock.
With a collective cry of surprise and panic, Class 1-A was unceremoniously thrown into the forest.
They landed in a tangle of limbs and uniforms in a shady clearing. The impact was cushioned by a floor of moss and soft earth.
"That was insane! They could have killed us!" Kaminari yelled, shaking a handful of leaves from his hair while trying to regain his composure.
"A most unheroic entrance!" Iida exclaimed, adjusting his glasses as he leaped to his feet, already trying to organize everyone.
A deep roar, a guttural sound that seemed to vibrate the trees and the ground beneath their feet, answered their complaints. From the earth in front of them, the ground swelled and cracked. Rocks, roots, and dirt bound together, forming a humanoid figure over ten meters tall. A creature made from the forest itself emerged with a bellow that sent nearby birds scattering.
The panic was instant and palpable.
"What the hell is that thing?!" Mina screamed, her eyes wide in shock.
"It's an earth beast! Stay calm and prepare to fight!" Iida commanded, his hands already chopping the air in directive gestures.
Most of the class began activating their Quirks, preparing for a chaotic and desperate fight. Bakugo was already grinning, small explosions crackling in his palms. Todoroki took a combat stance, cold starting to radiate from his right side.
But as the chaos began to brew, Izuku's team moved with a rehearsed fluidity. Without a single word, Ochako, Momo, and Toru formed a protective circle around Inko. Inko herself, at the center of this human shield, simply adjusted the jacket of her tracksuit with a calmness that was almost unnerving.
The action was so strange, so deliberate and immediate, that it stopped several of their classmates in their tracks.
"Hey, what are they doing?" Sero whispered to Kirishima. "Why are they protecting Midoriya's mom like she's the most important person here?"
"No idea," Kirishima replied, confused. "Maybe she's scared…"
But Inko didn't look scared at all. She looked… expectant.
It was then that Izuku stepped forward, alone. He stood between the imposing beast and his team, planting his feet firmly on the ground.
"Midoriya, get out of there, you idiot!" Kirishima yelled at him. "It's too big to take on alone!"
"DEKU, YOU DAMN NERD, DON'T YOU STEAL MY FIGHT!" Bakugo roared, about to launch himself forward.
Izuku didn't answer either of them. His eyes were fixed on the earth giant. The beast roared again, a sound of pure brute force, and lunged. Its fist, a mass of rock and roots the size of a small car, descended with incredible speed, intending to crush him.
And then, just as the fist was about to impact, Izuku moved.
An almost invisible burst of energy launched him forward and up at an angle that defied gravity. He landed softly on the beast's rising arm and ran up the surface of dirt and vines with stunning ease. The creature, confused by the small figure now on it, tried to swat him with its other hand, a sideways blow that would have leveled a building.
Izuku dodged the strike with a flip in the air. His movements were agile, almost predatory. He landed on the monster's shoulder and absorbed the impact without losing momentum.
In the clearing, his classmates watched, dumbfounded. Bakugo had stopped dead, his hands clenched into fists so tight his knuckles were white.
"That… damn… nerd…" he seethed, his voice a low, dangerous growl vibrating with fury. "How dare he…? He dares to use my moves!"
But they weren't his moves. They were something entirely new. A lethal combination of Bakugo's explosive propulsion, refined with a control and precision he had never possessed.
Back in the action, Izuku reached the "head" of the earth beast. With a cry that was pure, concentrated power release, he delivered a devastating kick to the center of its rocky face.
The impact wasn't just physical. A visible shockwave, pale green in color, shot through the creature's body. The rocks forming its structure cracked instantly. The dirt crumbled. The earth beast fell apart, dissolving into a heap of rubble, soil, and dust with a final, dull groan, becoming part of the forest once more.
Izuku landed softly on the ground, standing on the mound of earth that had been his opponent just seconds before. The silence in the clearing was absolute, broken only by the sound of the wind in the trees and the held breaths of nineteen teenagers.
He looked up. His face was calm, his breathing barely heavy. He looked at his classmates, one by one, who were staring at him with a mixture of awe, confusion, and entirely new respect.
From the cliff above, Mandalay lowered her binoculars, an expression of disbelief on her face. She turned to Pixie-Bob, her cat-like eyes wide.
"That's the kid with the boring Quirk, right?"
Pixie-Bob could only nod, speechless. She fumbled in her pocket and pulled out a small device, typing quickly.
"The U.A. report just says 'physical enhancement Quirk'. Nothing else."
"The reports were wrong," Mandalay concluded, looking back down at the clearing. "Very, very wrong."
Below, Izuku casually brushed the dust from his shoulders. His gaze drifted toward the darkness of the forest, where the roars and cracks of more approaching beasts could already be heard. A confident smile, that of a fighter who has just discovered the true scope of his power, spread across his face. He turned to his team.
"Ready to keep going?" he asked, his voice echoing in the silent clearing.
Ochako, Momo, and Toru smiled back at him. Inko nodded, a spark of fierce pride in her eyes.
The training camp had barely begun, and the team's hammer had just proven he was more than ready to strike.