It's like 5am so yeah, I should probably go to bed. Enjoy.
Foresight: The Knowing Hero
Chapter 4: Battle Simulation
Once we'd made our way to where the rest of the class waited, I looked around at all the costumes surrounding us.
Wow, some people went all out.
Iida was dressed like a knight and I watched, amused, as Aoyama twirled in a circle, admiring his own cape. Kirishima and Mina were standing to one side talking excitedly about their costumes and I was about to join them when I felt a chill next to me and a throat cleared. I turned to Shoto, surprised that he was initiating conversation with me, but was further surprised to find he wasn't looking at me at all, but staring at something directly behind me. I turned around completely to see what he was looking at.
Mineta.
"Thank god for squats," Mineta whispered, staring at me. Or more specifically, my ass.
I blanched.
The cold emanating from Shoto increased slightly and I was fueled with righteous anger. Part of me wished that I could use my visor to burn a laser through Mineta like the heroes in the old comic books but I supposed I'd have to settle with answering the question I'd posed yesterday of how far I could kick him.
Before I could do anything though, tape wrapped around Mineta from behind and dragged him across the pavement, away from any of the girls in the class.
"Mineta, you're such a scumbag." Sero spoke, looking down at him. He had his helmet on but I could hear the scowl in his voice as he turned and walked off. Slightly disappointed I couldn't kick him, I turned my attention back to Shoto.
His costume was interesting. It was fairly basic except for the face that ice covered his left half entirely. Shielding his fire side. I was surprised, wondering about the motivation behind it. I knew from what I'd seen that he wasn't particularly fond of his father, but I was surprised he'd hide that side away from the world. Come to the think of it, although I'd only rarely seen his powers, I'd never seen him use his fire side.
"Thanks."
Shoto merely nodded at me before he walked off again.
Interesting.
"That's great everyone, you all look cool! Now, shall we begin zygotes?"
All Might began speaking and I zoned out, already aware of the exercise today. I'd seen small parts of it in a dream last night and was ready to see what happened. The only thing that was likely to remain certain from what I'd seen in the visions was Kirishima and I were a team that was versing Denki and Jiro. I winced as I remembered one of my dreams last night including Denki electrocuting me. I was sure determined to avoid that today.
Sure enough, when the teams were announced Kirishima and I were together. He grinned at me from across the group and held up his hardened fist and I couldn't help smiling back at him. This should be fun.
Watching the other fights play out before ours both relaxed my nerves and left butterflies in my stomach. This was it. Our first hero training.
The two fights that had happened so far were leagues separate from each other. The first fight with Bakugo and Iida versing Midoriya and Ochaco was not what I expected for the first day. I'd seen Bakugo in the entrance exam, but this was something else. It was like his one goal in life was to beat the living shit out of Midoriya and for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why. Someone mentioned that they went to middle school together, but it was still surprising that he would be that fueled with rage. It explained how Midoriya had been able to predict Bakugo's moves though.
Everyone had been teeming with excitement for our first real hero training but as the match progressed it grew kind of daunting. When it finally completed and the aftermath was shown the entire class was shocked.
"What the heck? The losers are practically uninjured… and the winners are on the ground…" Kaminari whispered in shock.
"They lost the battle, but won the war, huh?" Another boy said, I think his name was Tokoyami.
"This is training though," was Asui's response.
"I suppose it's like Aizawa said, we only have three years here. There's no time like the present to learn the hard truths of being a hero." Some people turned to look at me as I spoke but the rest were still gaping at the screen in front of us. I was surprised myself, that I had spoken up. "But I really don't think that the rest of the matches will be this violent."
"I agree." Shoto spoke from my left, surprising me yet again.
His input into the conversation made sense later when he and Shoji were up against Hagakure and Ojiro. I watched as the entire building was encased in ice and Shoto made his way inside. Within a minute the match was decided and I couldn't decide between admiration at his powerful Quirk and frustration at the gap I felt between our abilities. For a moment I wondered why his father had made the arrangement with me. It would have made sense for him to choose a different person. Someone with a stronger quirk and more to offer.
My eyes drifted to Yaoyorozu before they fell away again. She had impressed the class with her discussion on battle tactics earlier and her summary. I swear I heard Kirishima mutter "so manly", when she finished her assessment on the first match. I also knew her family was rich. But I didn't allow myself to consider it for too long.
It didn't matter, and there was no reason I should feel effected anyway, it wasn't that type of arrangement. Also, my quirk was powerful in its own way. Which I was determined to prove today.
Speaking of, we were up.
Kirishima and I would be playing villains for our match so we entered the building first. I sighed as we made our way up to the fifth floor, trying to decide how we were going to approach this.
"Neither of us have Quirks that would be useful in preventing them from getting this far so I suppose our approach will be a fist fight, rather than some side plan like Shoto used. In which case we should probably make sure when we fight that we're not in the same room as the bomb."
Kirishima stared at me for a moment, probably surprised by my take charge attitude. Before he surveyed our surroundings. We were in the room outside where the bomb was held and he examined the area, peaking into the room with the bomb. "Yeah, but there's a second door into the room on the other side! We wouldn't be as strong if we separated so we need to find a way to block that door. If all they have to do is get through one of two doors then we're toast!"
"True," I sighed. "I suppose we could block the door with some boxes. It would be easy for them to move them but all we need is the warning that they're using that door. I can also help with that with my Quirk. If they take the other door I'll know."
"Can you see what their plan is?"
I raised my hand and deactivated my Quirk nullifier. I had left it up while watching the battles so I could focus fully on them. It all slammed back into my head with more force than I expected and I winced.
But it was fine. The only reason it felt so 'heavy' was probably because I was about to start a battle. There was a few significant decisions occurring at the moment. Reaching out I searched for Jiro and Denki's strategy.
I shook my head. "No, they're still discussing what they want to do. Their plans that they're considering seem to be focused more on just a frontal assault. They probably know any attempt at a sneak attack wouldn't work with me."
"That's fine with me," Kirishima said with a grin, his hardened fist slamming into his palm. "Sneak attacks aren't manly anyway!"
I huffed in amusement, watching him. "Like All Might said, sneak attacks are a valid strategy. They just don't work on me."
We blocked off the second doorway with some boxes, before returning to our chosen battle room, continuing to discuss tactics as we worked.
"Hey, do you know if you're immune to Denki's electricity when you're hardened?"
"No, I don't think I am, based on the robots in the entrance exam. When I punched them up, they still shocked me if I hit the wrong area. But I don't think it's anywhere near as effective as on normal people."
"Hmm, well at least the options there if we need it, even if it's not ideal."
"Will you be able to dodge their attacks? If you take them by surprise, I can get to them and take them out before they can use them." He held up the capture tape and I smiled.
"Exactly what I was thinking. But I thought sneak attacks weren't manly?" I joked and Kirishima looked affronted.
"It's not a sneak attack! It's just you responding to an attack that hasn't happened yet."
I shrugged, that's true I suppose.
I felt their plan solidify just before All Might's voice came over the speaker. "Match Three! Ready? Start!"
"They're coming up this way anyway so we didn't need to barricade anyway. You ready?"
Kirishima simply nodded, his arms out and a grin on his face. His entire body was hardened and he was watching the doorway, waiting.
I figured that this was the time to try the other setting on my visor and reached up to press it. My vision disappeared as the visor blacked out and I stretched out with my sight instead.
"Are you blind right now?
"It works for me, okay?"
"So manly!"
I laughed. Five seconds. "Here they come."
Jiro's last minute decision to make an entrance by blasting her heartbeat through the door caught me off guard. But I still had time to call out a warning to Kirishima before I ducked to the side and Jiro's heartbeat echoed through the room.
Even out of the range of fire it was ridiculously loud. She's smart, I thought as my ears rang. She knew spontaneous decisions were the way to go with me. And she was fast. But I was a lot faster.
Just before she stopped projecting her heartbeat I charged from the side, pulling out my bō as I went. She barely had time to glance at me before I hit her in the back and sent her flying further into the room.
"Kirishima!" I called out and felt him charge her with the capture tape in hand. She brought up her hands to defend herself but it didn't matter. I knew that in moments he'd have her incapacitated.
The new problem was Denki. I jumped out of the way again just before he discharged his electricity. An electric current crackled through the room as he watched me with a grin on his face.
This is why I had practiced fighting without my vision. Using my foresight I could form a line of where the boundary of Denki's shock was. I stood on the edge of it shuffling backwards as he made his way into the room.
Soon he'd need to stop, for at least a moment, before firing off again. Soon. Soon.
Now.
The zapping noises stopped just as I lunged for him. I swept my leg across the ground, taking his legs out from under him and Denki fell on his back with a curse. It didn't take me long to grab my own capture tape from my belt and tie it around his wrist.
Finished.
I stood up straight again and brought back the vision to my visor just as All Might announces Kirishima and I to be the winners. Grinning, I helped Denki to his feet and noted Kirishima doing that same with Jiro. They both seemed a bit downtrodden but not overly surprised, and to be honest I think they enjoyed the match. I know I did, a pleased feeling having risen in my chest.
Kirishima stepped up to me and offers his fist for a fist bump. I raised my eyebrows at him.
"I don't particularly want to fist bump a brick wall, Kirishima" I said dryly and Kirishima blanched before his fist softened back into its normal form.
I gave him his fist bump.
"You already said I could call you Mirai, so it's only fair you call me Eijiro!" He exclaimed with a grin as we made out of the building.
I smiled yet again, it surprised me how he seems to remain so upbeat all the time. I felt like it was a good quality for a person to have.
"Sure thing, Eijiro."
"Anyone know why young Himori is the MVP?"
Yaoyorozu put her hand up. But it was Shoto who spoke up.
"She managed to develop a battle plan that utilised the strengths of both her and her teammate while avoiding any significant damage to the building, or the weapon. She also acted efficiently, not allowing the battle to draw out and cause unnecessary injuries."
I gaped at him, once again surprised he'd spoken up. I felt a blush form on my cheeks and almost didn't hear All Might confirm his thoughts. All I managed to get out was a "thanks Shoto", before I turned away and pretended to be occupied fiddling with the visor in my hands. I could feel his eyes on me for a moment, but it didn't seem to matter though because All Might announced the next fight.
Before long we were finished and making our way back to the classroom. I was a bit disappointed that I'd have to turn the visor back in. I'd enjoyed having my head foresight free for a change.
However, it was probably a good thing I couldn't get used to it, my mind drifting to when it had hurt to re-establish the connection. It was curious. Also something I'd have to figure out. Foresight hurt the most when significant things were happening, but it was when these significant things were happening that I needed to nullify the Quirk or risk being absorbed into visions.
In future I'd have to make guidelines, I thought, on when it was appropriate to turn the Quirk off. And I would definitely need a time limit on how long the connection was gone.
It wasn't like my brain was unused to it. I just pictured it like a blocked drain. When there was just a constant stream of information and visions, it was fine. However, if I blocked it off, when I opened the connection again the channel was flooded and it hurt. I already got enough migraines from overusing my quirk occasionally. I didn't need to add this risk factor as well.
I sighed as I settled back into my seat. I had a lot to think about.
My thoughts were cut off by a voice. "Say Mirai, how many of the futures that you see show me taking you out on a date this afternoon."
I snorted. I hadn't even noticed him approach me, and I didn't even have to check to know that the likelihood of Denki and I going on a date this afternoon was even less than the likelihood of Aizawa staying awake until lunch time tomorrow.
"Unfortunately that's a zero, sorry Denki. But if you ask out the girl with the pink hair in class 1H, she'll say yes." I was pleased to see that his grin only faded slightly. Mostly joking then, that was good.
"Hey, hey, hey! How come you're helping Kaminari get a date? That's not fair! Who do I have to ask out to get a yes?" Mineta was standing on his chair, facing us as he spoke. Even though he was standing, he came up to the same height as the rest of the boys while sitting. I had to hold back a snort.
I pretended to consider it, before I just shook my head. "I don't think you have the money to pay for her, Mineta."
I heard Eijiro and Sero break out laughing at the front of the classroom. I swear I even saw Shoto's mouth twitch.
"Hey that's not fair! I saw you walking home with Todoroki yesterday! What's the difference between us? How come he can get girls like you to date him?"
Annoyed at the entire conversation, I allowed instinct to take over and blurted out the first thing to my head.
"Well the difference is I'm not marrying you."
The room temperature dropped what felt like ten degrees.
"EHH?!"
Shit.
Next chapter: Betrothals are a complicated thing.
