Chapter 22: Indoor Anti-Personnel Training
As expected, it didn't deviate far from what Yoshikage Kira had anticipated. All Might announced the details of the combat training: indoor anti-personnel combat training.
"Although we usually see villains being fought outdoors, statistically speaking, the probability of encountering villains indoors is higher." At this point, All Might glanced secretly at Yoshikage Kira before continuing. "Kidnapping, house arrest, underground deals... In this hero-saturated society, the truly dangerous enemies lurk indoors."
All Might surveyed the students, all now clad in their hero costumes. "You will be divided into hero teams and villain teams, and you will engage in 2v2 indoor battles."
"Aren't we going to do basic training first?" Tsuyu Asui asked, her long tongue lolling out, making her words a bit muffled. Asui's costume was a tight-fitting suit similar to a wetsuit. Its frog-like green color complemented her long, dark green hair, and it was easy to see that her costume was designed for aquatic combat.
It might reveal his age, but Kira saw a resemblance in her costume to Gero-Gero from the tokusatsu show B-Robo Kabutack. On a side note, Kira found himself quite interested in her hands, which might secrete some kind of mucus.
"This is practical training to understand the basics!" All Might began to explain the specifics. "The main point this time is that you will no longer be facing robots that you can simply destroy."
"The scenario is that the villains have hidden a nuclear weapon somewhere in their stronghold, and the heroes have received intel and are being dispatched to eliminate this threat. The heroes need to capture the villains or successfully recover the nuclear weapon within the time limit. The villains, on the other hand, need to protect the nuclear weapon or capture the heroes within the time limit."
"This setup sounds like a game..." Denki Kaminari muttered, deep in thought.
"It's Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege," Yoshikage Kira suddenly spoke up. "The defenders need to make their stronghold impenetrable, while the attackers, after failed negotiations, begin their assault. The most similar point is that neither the enemies nor the allies can do anything to harm the hostage."
"That's it!" Denki Kaminari slammed his right fist into his left palm. "That's the part of the game I never understood! If neither side can hurt the hostage, why doesn't the hostage just run out?"
Amidst the confused yet impressed stares of those around him, Kira calmly explained, "It's not that strange. In the game's setting, the attackers are an elite unit, and there are a large number of police personnel surrounding the area, but they can't launch a full-scale assault because of the hostage."
"The enemies know this too and won't harm the hostage easily. Their only way out is to defeat the rats who have infiltrated, and only then can they regain the upper hand. In the exercise we're about to do, the so-called 'nuclear weapon' serves a similar deterrent role."
"However, I have a question." Taking a deep breath, Kira addressed All Might, who had been completely upstaged in the explanation. "According to signed treaties, Japan is not allowed to develop nuclear weapons. This means that this nuclear weapon was likely developed in secret, and was discovered by a country like the United States, who then hired a group of villains to steal it."
Ignoring the growing sweat on the faces of those around him, Kira continued his analysis. "So, to prevent this from being exposed and sanctioned by other countries, the government has dispatched a small number of heroes to arrest them under the pretext of a crime. And the villains on the other side are on the same page; they both want to eliminate each other, not let this 'weapon' detonate..."
"Um... Young Kira, that's not quite it!" Seeing the "Oh, so that's how it is" expression on the students' faces, All Might quickly cut him off to prevent any damage to the government's reputation. "This is just a hypothetical situation! It was the training background from my time studying in America! The 'nuclear weapon' could just as easily be replaced with something like jewels!"
"America, you say... Then I have no more questions." Kira immediately accepted this setting.
What kind of misunderstanding do you have about America?!
The other students of Class 1-A silently complained in their minds.
All Might wiped away the sweat that had formed on his brow, thinking to himself that you really couldn't underestimate today's students. He took out a box and said, "Alright, Young Kira has already explained everything very clearly! Since Pro Heroes often have to form temporary teams with heroes from other agencies, we'll now draw lots to determine your opponents and partners!"
Thanks to Kira's "training" in the classroom, this time everyone obediently drew lots one by one, and the process was completed quickly.
Team A: Izuku Midoriya and Ochaco Uraraka; Team B: Shoto Todoroki and Mezo Shoji; Team C: Momo Yaoyorozu and Minoru Mineta; Team D: Katsuki Bakugo and Tenya Iida; Team E: Yuga Aoyama and Mina Ashido; Team F: Mashirao Ojiro and Koji Koda; Team G: Kyoka Jiro and Denki Kaminari; Team H: Fumikage Tokoyami and Tsuyu Asui; Team I: Yoshikage Kira and Toru Hagakure; Team J: Eijiro Kirishima and Hanta Sero.
"Team I, huh..." Kira looked at the slip of paper in his hand and began to search for his partner.
"Over here! I'm over here~" A pair of giant gloves floated in the air, waving frantically at Kira. "Kira-san, I'm your teammate!"
Although it was a bit startling at first, after some time, he had gotten used to these kinds of paranormal events happening around him. "Habit really is humanity's greatest weapon against the abnormal," Kira muttered to himself as he walked over to Toru Hagakure.
"Kira-kun, you were so amazing just now! To be able to analyze so much from so little information, even I could understand it!"
After spending the last few days together, Kira had gotten a good sense of Hagakure's personality. Though he couldn't see her expression, he could feel her excitement. She was just that kind of lively girl.
"With you here, Kira-kun, who understands the rules so well, maybe we can win!"
"I hate to burst your bubble, but our chances of winning aren't great." Kira glanced around at the other teams, many of whom had already gathered together. "My Quirk isn't suited for direct combat, and you're more of a support type. We don't have much of a chance against the others in a head-on fight."
"Is that so..." Hagakure's mood dropped for a moment, but she quickly recovered, clapping her hands together with a smile. "Then we'll just have to pray we draw a good lot!"
Beside All Might were two boxes with only a single round opening, one labeled "HEROES" and the other "VILLAINS." He had already randomly divided the ten lettered balls between the two boxes. He reached both hands into the boxes at the same time and pulled out two marked balls.
"The first match will be—Team A as the heroes, and Team D as the villains!" All Might announced loudly. "These two teams stay here. Everyone else, to the monitoring room."
Team A was Izuku Midoriya and Ochaco Uraraka. Team D was Katsuki Bakugo and Tenya Iida.
Midoriya frantically turned his head to look at Bakugo, who was giving him a savage grin.
"Kacchan... I!"
"Shut up!" Bakugo cut him off harshly. "Deku, I'm going to blow you to smithereens!"
In a way, this is truly a fateful draw... Kira thought to himself.