Chapter 41: Discovered
"Todoroki-kun, here's the situation. Kira-kun got a walkie-talkie from the enemy and found their communication frequency. Now he's contacting the enemies in each zone one by one. Because of their leader's... autocratic style... he told them when he handed out the walkie-talkies, 'If you don't take out the students, don't bother reporting back.' So, the enemy has no reason to be suspicious.
The students in the Downpour Zone are Koda and Tokoyami. The enemies there didn't catch them and have already suffered heavy losses, so they requested support from our side. In the Ruins Zone are Kacchan and Kirishima. They've also gotten a walkie-talkie and have communicated with us, although they almost started a fight over the phone..."
Midoriya gave a wry smile as he said this. Mineta interjected, "That guy was threatening to kill all of us! Is that what a hero is supposed to do?!"
If it's Bakugo, then that's understandable... Besides, even I almost had the thought of trading hostages, Todoroki thought to himself.
Kira took over. "Although I'm not sure who's contacting my Conflagration Zone, I heard from people in other zones that they reported that both Ojiro and I have been captured..."
Although Kira had let Jodo Chenjie go, he didn't think in that direction at all. He just assumed that after he left, the enemies there, feeling they had lost face, had lied to the other zones.
Todoroki thought for a moment and asked, "I'm in Area 5, and you're in Area 3. Excluding Kira's Conflagration Zone, there should still be an Area 6."
"That's the problem," Kira said with a bit of a headache. "Ojiro-kun went to the Mountain Zone a while ago, but when we call there now, there's no response. We haven't heard from the enemies or our classmates. It's really worrying."
Ojiro said such cool things, but what could have happened to make the walkie-talkie go completely silent...
Despite this thought, Kira remained calm and said, "Todoroki-kun, I need you to leave that area as soon as possible and come to the central plaza. Aizawa-sensei is in danger."
Aizawa-sensei is in danger? Todoroki recalled the information he had gotten from the enemy. "I heard from the enemy that their target is All Might. They said their trump card is a giant with a bird's beak who has power and speed comparable to All Might's."
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the walkie-talkie. Just as Todoroki was about to ask if it was broken, he heard Asui's somewhat sad voice. "Todoroki-kun, the person you're talking about is called Nomu. He's the one who took down Aizawa-sensei."
The call ended. Kira, Midoriya, and the others were in low spirits. Although they had heard that their other classmates were safe, the news about Nomu had sent their spirits plummeting.
Mineta forced a smile. "But it's All Might! If any random enemy could be as strong as All Might, he would have been defeated long ago, right?"
Midoriya felt a little relieved and added his own analysis. "I don't think we need to worry about Ojiro-kun. Maybe the enemy just accidentally broke their walkie-talkie... And if U.A. gets word that the school has been invaded, they'll definitely send a lot of Pro Heroes!"
"So you're saying if we just hold on, we might be rescued..." Kira was silent for a moment, then said, "But Aizawa-sensei might not be able to last that long."
Seeing Kira suddenly stand up, Midoriya grabbed him in a panic. "Kira-kun, what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to buy some time," Kira said softly. "I'm the class president, aren't I? It's time I did something."
Asui also tugged on the corner of Kira's shirt. "Kira-chan, you've already done enough. We need to wait for All Might to get here to deal with that Nomu..."
It seems they haven't realized yet. There's no time left.
Kira sighed silently. With his back to the large rock that was concealing them, he placed his hands on Midoriya's and Mineta's heads and, ignoring their struggles, pushed them into the water. Then, under Asui's surprised gaze, he wrapped his arms around her face-to-face, pressed her head against his chest, and let himself fall forward into the pool.
BOOM—
The next moment, with the sound of a heavy punch, the rock behind them suddenly shattered, and broken stones rained down on their position!
Asui watched as the stones hit the water's surface like raindrops, continuing with undiminished force toward Kira's back!
Seeing the pained expression on Kira's face, she, with her "Frog" Quirk, used her ability to breathe underwater to shoot out her long tongue and wrap it around Kira's body. Just as Kira had done, she grabbed Midoriya and Mineta, one in each hand, and swam to a safer distance. Seeing that the two of them were desperate for air, she surfaced.
Midoriya had been suddenly shoved into the water by Kira. He had only heard a continuous crackling sound around him and had no idea what had happened. The moment he surfaced, he started coughing, spitting out the water in his mouth.
"Kira-chan, are you okay?!" Although Asui's voice was still calm, Midoriya could hear the hidden anxiety in it. He quickly turned his head and saw Kira, who she had released from her tongue and was now holding.
He looked very weak, his eyes closed, and he wasn't responding to Asui's calls.
What on earth happened?!
Midoriya looked over to where they had been hiding. At the edge of the shore stood the bird-beaked giant known as "Nomu," still in a punching pose, its muscles bulging as if to show off its explosive power.
Midoriya understood. The creature called Nomu had found them, shattered the rock with a single punch, and Kira had realized it beforehand and shielded them from all the damage!
"Ah, how boring. You sensed it, did you?" Tomura Shigaraki walked over to the water's edge, sighing dramatically. "They're just a bunch of minnows, and yet not a single one died."
"Not only are we not dead, but we're completely fine," Kira said, slowly opening his eyes. He rested his head on Asui's shoulder and took a deep breath. "You hand-fetishist... you knew we were here all along, didn't you? I don't know why you let us be, but your planned attack failed."
"Kira-chan..." Asui was relieved to see Kira awake, but also a little shy from his somewhat... sexually harassing... behavior. A rare blush appeared on her face.
Shigaraki looked at him in disbelief, scratching his neck in frustration. "That was Nomu's full-power punch! Even I would be seriously injured by an indirect hit like that! This guy actually..."
Shigaraki suddenly fell into a strange state, and Nomu didn't make a move. This made Kira secretly breathe a sigh of relief.
To be honest, Kira was really scared. If he hadn't, on a whim, put a bottle of his special, homemade soap solution in his pocket before coming here, he would probably be dead by now.
The Hamon Bubbles were the special technique of Joseph Joestar's friend, Caesar Zeppeli. By infusing Hamon into a special soap solution, it could be used in a variety of wondrous ways.
After realizing the enemy might have discovered their position, he had quietly used Hamon to create bubbles from the special soap solution and sink them behind him. The moment he sensed the attack, Kira used Hamon to control the bubbles and block the stones!
Even sharp stones, after sinking into the water, couldn't necessarily burst the Hamon Bubbles. Although a few still broke through his defenses and hit him, how much damage could they really do?
He forgot to mention, when he first surfaced, he needed to breathe to recover from overusing Hamon, so his gasping for air was an unconscious action.
Yes, an unconscious action. At least, that's what Kira believed.