The hero and villain teams re-entered the monitoring room. Of the four who had gone out, only three returned. Aoyama had been carried off by the robots after losing consciousness from the "carpet bombing." Besides, he apparently needed to visit the bathroom before coming back.
The three who did return were welcomed warmly, just like the participants of the previous matches.
Comments like "You worked hard" or "You'll do even better next time" echoed around the room.
A few students even praised each other's techniques and performance—Nora included.
However…
There was one problem.
Everyone kept glancing at Koda with a complicated expression. Naturally introverted, Koda froze under the sudden surge of attention and immediately hid behind a pillar.
"…Is this what they call 'winning the battle but losing the war'? Sorry, Koda."
Nora found himself drifting into nonsense thoughts again.
"But Nora, you didn't transform this time?" Kirishima nudged him on the shoulder.
"Ah! Now that you mention it!" Ashido turned toward him, glaring. After putting in so much effort, realizing that her opponent had just been playing around was understandably irritating. She wasn't actually angry—just a little disappointed.
"That's my trump card," Nora explained. Technically, an ultimate move could be considered a trump card, right?
"I was planning to use it… if not for Koda's help," he added quickly, hoping to calm Ashido down.
"...Koda's help?"
Everyone's eyes drifted back to Koda with the same complicated expression. Koda, who had just started peeking out from behind the pillar, immediately retreated again.
"Besides, you already lost before I could even use it," Nora said with a smug smirk, teasing the defeated Ashido.
"Grr!" She snarled back, playing along.
And so, the Hero vs. Villain exercise ended on a mostly happy note… or at least it would have, if not for the two troublemakers making a fuss on the side.
Everyone else chose to ignore them—they clearly had some deep-seated grudge from earlier.
No one wanted to poke that hornet's nest.
***
Once class ended, All Might vanished as swiftly as the wind. He didn't say a word, but every student had a vague idea of why—
someone had been injured far more seriously than what was acceptable for a teacher's first lesson.
They all understood.
"So, does anyone want to hang out?" Nora asked.
Students like Todoroki and Tokoyami had already slipped out the moment the bell rang. The same went for Iida, Bakugo, and a few others.
The ones who stayed behind were those who didn't have any particular plans but still wanted to do something. They had just entered high school—new class, new environment, new friends. Naturally, everyone was eager to bond.
And so, the ones who remained were:
Ashido, Asui, Uraraka, Jiro, Yaoyorozu, Hagakure,
Kirishima, Kaminari, Mineta, Nekoyama, Ojiro, Shoji, and Sero.
Koda seemed to have taken emotional damage from being the center of attention earlier and quietly opted out.
As for Aoyama… well, he had suffered his own kind of mental attack.
"Um, Nekoyama-san, where are we going?"
The one who asked was Uraraka Ochaco. It seemed she had certain… concerns, depending on the destination.
"I'm thinking about going to McD. What do you guys think?" Nora announced, addressing everyone—not just Uraraka.
"Agreed!"
Surprisingly, the first to respond was Yaoyorozu.
…Let's quietly ignore how her eyes sparkled like a thousand stars.
"Let's go!"
"I don't mind."
"Sounds good to me."
After a variety of reactions, the decision was made:
They would head to McD—a place where you could talk freely, relax, and enjoy cheap food without worrying about anything.
…
In the end, U.A. is still U.A.
U.A. stands as one of the most renowned hero schools in Japan, the institution that hosts a national-level spectacle each year—the U.A. Sports Festival. People flock to see it in person, from ordinary civilians to professional heroes.
Sometimes, even foreigners travel all the way just to witness it live.
'It's almost on the scale of the World Cup.'
That was Nora's impression of the U.A. Festival.
It was an exaggeration, of course—still national, not international—but the comparison got the point across.
And now, dozens of students wearing the iconic U.A. uniform were walking together after school, heading out to hang out.
To add even more fuel to the school's already explosive popularity, this year marked the arrival of someone internationally famous—All Might himself—as a teacher.
The result?
"It's U.A!!!"
They were instantly swarmed by hungry hyenas known as reporters.
"Can we get an interview?"
"Do you have a moment?"
—those were the polite ones.
"What's your impression of the U.A.?"
"Tell us about All Might!"
—then there were the pushier, less considerate ones, the type who would twist a student's words just to craft a sensational headline.
Watching his classmates panic under the sudden barrage of attention, blurting out whatever came to mind in their flustered state, Nora could only sigh and shake his head.
Clap!Clap!
"Attention!" Nora shouted, loud enough to cut through the chaos.
The reporters froze, startled. Meanwhile, he subtly gestured for his classmates to step back from the cluster of cameras and microphones.
"Let's hold a quick, impromptu press conference," he said with a bright, confident smile directed at the reporters.
"Everyone, please keep quiet and ask your questions one at a time." He added calmly, "If there's any disturbance, we'll be ending things immediately, alright?"
Setting boundaries was essential—and if anything went wrong, Nora could conveniently blame one specific company for ruining the session. Perfect.
"Okay, hands up."
Dozens of hands shot into the air at once, but Nora immediately singled out one.
"The lady over there, please."
"Thank you. I'm from ABC News. What kind of classes does All Might teach?"
Nora nodded and accepted the question.
"Of course, it's a spectacular class. It's—"
He paused intentionally, watching the reporters lean in and scribble frantically in their notebooks.
"—a class on how to become a real hero!"
Pens suddenly stopped mid-stroke.
A collective expression said: What kind of answer is that?
"Can you elaborate?" another reporter asked, puzzled.
"Ah, you see… I'm not exactly a model student. It hasn't even been a week since we entered U.A."
Nora scratched his cheek lightly. "So is it alright if I answer based on my understanding? Or, well… my perspective?"
Seeing the reporters nod—apparently willing to accept anything at this point—Nora's smile grew even brighter.
"You see, a true hero, a real hero, is someone who understands the importance—no, the essence—of wearing their underwear on the outside!"
Shiiiin.
For a full second, absolute silence.
Once again, the reporters who had been furiously scribbling froze in place.
"You see," Nora continued confidently, "there's this alien child who became a hero. With his red cape and his underwear proudly worn on the outside, he saved the world countless times. He's practically the embodiment of HEROISM."
"Oh—and glasses! The ultimate disguise. Add a suit and you can hide an entire mountain of muscles…"
The reporters stared at him, dumbfounded, as he went on:
"Ah, and snapping your fingers! If you snap, the world ends—half destroyed. If you snap again, everything comes back. Isn't that fascinating?"
Nora kept rambling and rambling, spouting pure nonsense with the utmost confidence.
Finally, one reporter couldn't take it anymore.
"Is… is this what All Might teaches in class?"
"Huh? No." Nora blinked. "I did say from the beginning that this was just my understanding, didn't I?"
"Wow."
Nora could practically see their faces turning red in real time—just like in a cartoon.
"Then what the hell are you blabbering about?!" one reporter finally exploded.
"Well," Nora replied calmly, "it hasn't even been a week since we enrolled. Isn't it strange to ask first years instead of the second years? If you really insist, feel free to interview me again next year—after I've actually learned something."
His smile never wavered, not even for a second.
"Ah—police officer! Over here~ Please help us~"
Nora waved cheerfully at a group of officers who had been drawn in by the crowd. Earlier, they seemed hesitant to intervene since Nora spoke so confidently… but now?
From an outside perspective, a group of adults crowding around a bunch of minors definitely looked like harassment.
"Alright, let's escape now," Nora whispered to his classmates.
And with that, the entire group slipped away—not exactly quietly, because with their numbers it was impossible to be subtle. But thanks to the police officers and a few pro heroes stepping in, they managed to escape without issue.