A week had gone by since the incident at USJ.
Everyone was training hard for the incoming festival. The training rooms at U.A. had been booked solid, with students pushing themselves to their limits in preparation for what would be their first real chance to showcase their abilities to the professional hero world.
I however was a bit meh about it all. I didn't really care about the festival, but since everyone was training hard it wasn't like we could hang out a lot.
So just like today. I'd been spending most of my evenings, with a certain someone.
"Huh, so what do you say?"
Nejire's ponytails jumped up as she floated towards me, her usual boundless energy undimmed by the late hour.
"To what?"
"Club meeting! Seriously look at these," she jammed her phone in my face, nearly bonking me in the nose with the device. The screen was filled with messages from what appeared to be an incredibly active group chat. "The president is super jealous."
I leaned back slightly to get the phone in focus and looked at the replies. The messages came from just two people, Nejire, whose username was also just Nejire and the seemingly president of my fanclub, still weird to think I had one of those.
Gentle love.
Their messages felt weirdly disconnected, like two completely different people were typing.
"I wish you the greatest of times, I'm sure getting to know Arthur has been wonderful. Please extend my regards and let him know that his heroic actions at USJ have only increased our admiration."
"IT'S SO UNFAIR, IT'S REALLY REALLY REALLY UNFAIR!!! WHY DOES NEJIRE GET TO HANG OUT WITH HIM ALL THE TIME?! I DEMAND EQUAL TIME! THIS IS DISCRIMINATION!"
I blinked, reading the messages again to make sure I wasn't seeing things. The contrast was jarring.
"Not to be mean but does your president have a personality disorder?"
Nejire looked at her phone, tilting her head thoughtfully. Her expression was completely serious, as if she was genuinely considering the question. "No, I don't think so. Maybe I should ask."
She began typing, while muttering aloud as she composed her message. "Hey do you have a personality disorder, question from Arthur."
My eyes widened as I watched her fingers move across the screen. "You're not actually going to send that are you."
"Huh, what?" she looked up at me from the screen, blinking in confusion. I looked at her screen and saw that the message had already been sent, complete with a little checkmark indicating delivery.
Gosh darn it.
I smiled despite myself. Guess I wasn't the only one who could learn about restraint.
The response came almost immediately.
"WHAT KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT?! I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW I'M PERFECTLY NORMAL! THOUGH I SUPPOSE THE STRESS OF MANAGING A FAN CLUB DEDICATED TO SUCH AN INCREDIBLE INDIVIDUAL COULD DRIVE ANYONE TO EXTREMES..."
Followed by. "Please disregard the previous message. I was momentarily overcome with emotion. To answer your inquiry, I am in perfect mental health, thank you for your concern."
I raised an eyebrow. "Okay, that's... something."
Nejire put her phone in a pocket in her U.A. sportswear.
"So whatcha doing?"
"Walking with you?" I said, the sentence almost sounding like a question.
"No, whatcha doing for the sports festival? Have any clue who you want to get noticed by?"
It was a question I had already been asked, and my answer remained unchanged.
"No clue, if I'm being honest. You?"
"This is going to be my final year so as you can tell, I'm gonna have some fun with it, plus it's not like I have to get noticed as I'm already in an internship under Ryukyu."
"The ninth pro hero right?"
"Yeah, she's been a great mentor, couldn't ask for more if I'm being honest. She's strong, dependable and humble, plus she actually assigns me hero work, even if it's hard. Most other students who are in an internship only go on patrol and stuff like that. I get actual action."
Her eyes lit up as she spoke about her mentor, not that her eyes didn't light up at almost every other instant she spoke, but this time they were even brighter.
"She actually sounds good," I muttered, remembering that Mina had also mentioned wanting to get noticed by Ryukyu. Honestly, based on what Nejire was saying, she didn't sound so bad. "How did the last two sports festivals go for you?"
"They were great, I loved doing them. Last year I got second place, Mirio is a tough cookie. Permeation is just..." she shook her head admiringly. "It's honestly unfair sometimes."
"Permeation?"
"It basically allows him to phase through objects, thereby avoiding all damage."
"Avoiding all damage, huh," I muttered as I looked towards Avalon hanging at my side, which made me smile slightly. "Sounds like a great quirk."
"It is, it's amazing. The way he uses it is like nothing I've ever seen. He can phase through the ground and then solidify just his fist to attack from below, or he can let attacks pass through him and then immediately counter. I'm sure he'll get to be rank 1 in the future."
"That's his goal?"
She put her hand to her chin, as if thinking for a moment. Her ponytails swayed gently in the evening breeze. "No, I don't think so. His goal is to save one million people, but if you save one million people, I'm sure you'll get to be top 1, right?"
"One million, huh."
I thought of my own count. Eighteen thousand four hundred and twelve. The number was burned into my memory. All my years as I vigilante and I hadn't even saved twenty thousand people.
Still, I smiled. That was an amazing goal.
"Thinking about Mirio, I'm sure he's training for the sports festival in the facilities. Wanna go see?" she asked as she floated in front of me, her golden spirals beneath her feet landing on my shoes.
I thought back to what he had told me before he left when we had first met at Nezu's office. Wanna spar sometime.
"Are you sure he wouldn't mind?" I asked, looking into her eyes. They were such a bright blue, full of enthusiasm and life. It was hard to imagine her ever being discouraged or defeated.
"Mind? Mirio?" she laughed, the sound echoing in my ears, it was almost melodic. "No, of course not! He loves meeting new people and he's always up for a challenge. Come on, let's go!"
She grabbed my hand and dragged me along, humming a little tune as we went. Her grip was surprisingly strong, and I had to quicken my pace (not that I couldn't) to keep up with her floating form.
We walked down one hallway, crossed another, went down a flight of stairs and in no time we were standing in front of a door marked Advanced Training Facility C. Nejire opened it with her keycard, the electronic lock beeping softly as it disengaged.
The doors slid open with a soft mechanical whir, and I could hear the sounds of someone training from within. I looked inside to see a fully equipped gym that was much more advanced than anything I'd seen before.
There were tons of machines designed specifically for quirk training, holographic projectors for scenario simulation, and a boxing ring that was much, much larger than normal, probably to accommodate students with size-enhancement quirks.
Facing one machine and releasing one punch after another without pause, was none other than Mirio, the sole person in the entire facility. He was punching so hard it made me wonder if he his quirk provided him some strength enhancement, but then I remembered what Nejire had said and unless Mirio's quirk was like Nomu's I didn't see that as a possibility. He had built his strength, little by little.
"Mirio!" Nejire yelled as she floated over to him, garnering his attention immediately. Her voice echoed slightly in the large space.
Mirio stopped what he was doing, turned to us, and broke into that characteristic wide smile that seemed to light up his entire face. "Hey Nejire!" he yelled back, even though she had already floated over to be just a few feet in front of him. "Arthur, hello to you too!"
Wait, Arthur? I looked at the smiling Mirio more carefully.
He knew my real name was Aki Tadashi, I'd told him and Nezu that during our first meeting. Could he have forgotten about my real name?
Then he winked at me, with a knowing smile and I realized he hadn't forgotten at all. He was simply being considerate, using the name I was comfortable with in front of Nejire.
"Hello Mirio."
"So what are you both doing here? Well Nejire, I guess I know," he said, wiping his face with a towel from a nearby rack. "But what about you Arthur? Shouldn't you be training for the sports festival like everyone else?"
I shrugged. "I've been doing some training, but nothing too intensive. I suppose I should be more concerned about it."
"I brought him," Nejire said, her smile bright. "Where's Amajiki? I was expecting him to be here too?"
"He had to go home for something. Family dinner, I think. You know how he gets about maintaining his routines."
"Amajiki?" I asked, the name slipping out before I could stop it.
"Uh huh," Mirio said, gesturing to include Nejire in his explanation. "Together with Amajiki, we are the Big 3 of U.A.! The three strongest students in the entire school."
I found myself curious about this Amajiki person, wondering what kind of person he was, Mirio was energetic, Nejire was too, maybe he was the same. Yeah I was sure he was, I mean how else were you supposed to keep up with them. My thoughts about this Amajiki were interrupted by Mirio.
He patted me on the shoulder, once, twice, thrice, each pat surprisingly firm. "Well, it's nice seeing you Arthur. Wanna spar?!"
The invitation hung in the air for not even a second.
"Sure, why not?"
"Eh," Nejire's voice cut through what we were saying, but we didn't pay it much attention. Instead, Mirio walked over to the boxing ring and gestured for me to follow. I did, climbing up onto the padded platform.
The ring was indeed massive, easily three times the size of a normal boxing ring. The ropes were reinforced with some kind of metal cable, and the mat beneath our feet had a strange, almost bouncy quality to it.
"So do we use quirks? Or..." I asked, trailing off as I tried to gauge what kind of sparring match he had in mind.
Nejire still stood at her original spot near the entrance, looking increasingly concerned.
"Of course with the use of our quirks," Mirio said, beginning to stretch his arms and roll his shoulders. "That's the only way to really test ourselves, right?"
"Okay then."
I reached for Excalibur's hilt, but I once more remembered what Nejire had said about Mirio's quirk. Phasing through things. Yeah I didn't need to draw Excalibur.
At that moment, Nejire finally broke out of her stupor.
"Wait, wait, why are you fighting?"
I turned to her, so did Mirio.
"He asked me to."
"I asked him to."
We spoke simultaneously, which seemed to only make her more confused.
Still that was going to be the explanation she was going to get, because without any other words, Mirio began to run at me across the ring. Just a straight charge and I let him.
And then suddenly, as he got within a few feet of me...
He was naked!
A/N: Bribery works wonders on you guys and gals huh, we jumped 11 spots since yesterday. Expect the top 5 bonus chapter soon. Probably not today as I gotta go to the doctor (don't worry guys and gals it's nothing serious), but soon.
Also yeah, Mirio finally got that spar he wanted, now let's see how he does. This is probably gonna be one of the better fights as Arthur doesn't really have a way to get past permeation, either through physical time or because of Excalibur.
Last thing before I go. Arthur and Nejire sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I'm joking, I'm joking. I don't wanna make any jumps on relationships but she feels like the best right now.
See you all tomorrow. Keep sending those powerstones, I appreciate it. Thx for reading. Author out.