Chapter Seven: Demon in the Forest

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Kozo and Izuku stood at the doorstep of the Uraraka household wearing casual clothes, they hadn't spoken since the party the night before. Izuku coughed lightly, while Kozo stood next to him, blinking calmly and looking forward at the door.

A well built man answered the door, "Hello there. You two must be Ochako's friends. Come in, come in."

Kozo was so tall he almost matched Ochako's father in height, the black haired boy maintaining his calm demeanor as he looked around the Uraraka's apartment. It was a small place with rather basic necessities, Ochako's mother was in her kitchen, scrubbing a dish before smiling at them, "Why hello there!"

Izuku and Kozo bowed instantly to them, before Ochako's mother pointed to the tall calm boy with hair gel, "Hey...you're new in town right? Just flew in from Hokkaido with your uncle?"

Kozo nodded.

"Well, the second Ochako recovers, we'll go over to your shop and get some of your families delicious ice cream."

Kozo nodded again calmly, staying silent.

Izuku cleared his throat, "Where is Ochako?"

"She's in her room, but I wouldn't go in there, she's very sick."

Izuku shook his head, "Don't worry, she'll be fine in a second."

The parents of Ochako looked at each quickly in confusion as the two boys walked to her bedroom, closing the door behind them. Izuku looked around her room to see Ochako laying in her bed sneezing cutely. The flu had stricken her body, the girl sniffling while sick.

"H-Hey Deku..." Ochako murmured from her bed with a sneeze.

"Hey Uraraka."

"Wh-where's Iida?"

Izuku looked at her, "He said he had family business, couldn't make it."

"Who's he?" Ochako asked, closing her weak eyes from the flu.

"He's Kozo Yokiji, new in town. He's going to heal you."

"H-heal me?" She asked in disbelief, her kind brown eyes widening.

"Of course. Kozo?"

Kozo activated his Quirk, a black tentacle with a razor sharp orange tip glowed and pierced Ochako's arm, injecting the healing fluid into her body. She gave a light groan when it flooded through her, beginning to attack the flu virus in her system and killing it.

"Why am...I weaker than before?"

Izuku looked to the tall boy next to him, wearing a black sweatshirt that matched his hair, "Kozo?"

"The healing serum saps your energy until you've recovered completely. Don't worry, the flu virus should be gone in your body in just about a few minutes."

Izuku looked at her, "Tsuyu and Toru-chan have you covered for the Super Quirk project."

"We had a project?" She croaked out from her bed.

"Yeah."

"Who were you paired with?"

"Yao-Momo." Izuku said calmly, "Speaking of which, I should probably go home and finish up the work we agreed upon soon."

"Oh."

It wasn't long before Ochako smiled, feeling her strength return to her completely. She jumped out of her bed and cheered, "Wahooo! I finally feel better!" Ochako held their cheeks before kissing both of them there, managing to earn small red spots where her lips parted from them, "Thanks for healing me you two..."

"No problem." Izuku murmured with a nod.

The three happy Uraraka's waved and smiled at them as they walked away from their household, "Come again!"

Izuku turned around and smiled and waved back, while Kozo kept walking away, silently calm as usual. He looked at the taller black haired teen, "See you at school tom-"

In the blink of an eye, Kozo's shiny black vines wrapped around the edges of the apartment complex and he lifted off into the air towards his ice cream shop with his Quirk.

"Morrow?" Izuku shook his head, muttering under his breath, "Damn that guy moves fast."

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Izuku handed his folder to Momo with a nod, "Finished the last entry for the Super Quirk user from France last night, thanks Yao."

She nodded and gave him a rare warm smile, walking to Shota's podium. The Sensei fixed his stack of folders as they were handed to them, taking Kozo's and Todoroki's, Mina's and Mineta's, and finally Bakugo's and Hanta's.

Shota saw Ochako walk into class and looked at her, "Ah. Miss Uraraka, please return to your old seat. Mister Yokiji, don't worry, I have a new one for you at the back of the classroom."

Kozo nodded and walked to the back of the class, sitting behind Rikido Sato and his partner Todoroki, in the new twenty first student spot. The electric bell rung and everyone took their seats. Sensei Aizawa cleared his throat, "For today we have a practical activity that may very well take the whole day, so I am obligated to begin it right now."

The students looked at each other in confusion before turning back to their Sensei at his podium who kept speaking, "It will be a pop practical exam." He mentioned, fixing the stack of folders on his podium.

"Pop practical exam?!" The class shouted in unison.

"Indeed, I have taken the time to investigate further into the Quirk of our new student Mister Yokiji, whom you will all be facing in the forest next to the school. You will receive credit relating to your grade accordingly. The school staff has agreed that Kozo's power is strong enough to test the abilities of over twenty students, but here is the activity:"

"This pop practical exam will encompass multiple aspects of Hero work, stealth, strength, speed and timing. You will be given a specific grade depending on how well you do, and how long you last without being disqualified from the practical. To be disqualified, Mister Yokiji must eliminate you using his Quirk, either immobilizing you for over a minute or injecting you with a special sleep serum he secretes. Whence disqualified, he will write your name down and the time it occurred. You will be given until the end of the day to be disqualified, the student who lasts the longest without being disqualified will be given the highest grade. Notice, that you may not damage Mister Yokiji for as long as he doesn't damage you, but you are allowed to submit him to gain extra credit for you and your classmates. From there, if he does try and hurt you, you will be given the freedom to defend yourself accordingly."

"Now please, go into your changing rooms and don your training outfits. The exam begins in twenty minutes so get to it."

Students immediately began to walk away to their changing rooms, speaking along the way. Kozo hung behind them walking behind by himself, staring down at his moving black sneakers.

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The boys of class 1-A were all changing into their matching blue training uniforms with the white lines across them, as Kozo changed quietly, putting on his own training suit for the first time. They were the same blue training suits used for practical work and for the sports festivals.

"Er...Deku?" Mineta asked before looking up, seeing his contemplative expression while staring into his purple locker.

He put on his blue hero outfit slowly, thinking the whole time.

I knew Kozo could be strong, but strong enough to take on the entire class by himself? Either way, I'm curious to see how this plays out.

Bakugo smirked, flexing his defined muscles under his blue hero uniform that matched everyone else's, thinking arrogantly in his head.

Heh. So we can submit him huh? I'll just jump into an explosion punch and knock that new kid out of the forest.

Kozo was wearing a silver electronic watch with blue digits on his left wrist, his right hand holding a clip board and a pen. He walked out of the boys changing room and headed for the forest, ready to take on his new colleagues.

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All of Class 1-A stood at the edge of the forest, before Shota Aizawa lifted his hand, "Ready...go." He ordered with a tired and unenthusiastic tone, dropping his hand.

They all sprinted into the forest, as Shota turned towards them, seeing them run off wearing matching blue training suits.

Good luck. You have no idea what lays in that forest.

Izuku sprinted with all haste towards the center guessing that's where Kozo could be.

If I can just overwhelm him with force before he can disqualify anyone, I can get everyone extra credit and get the top grade!

Mina gasped as she ran with Tsuyu and Ochako, "What was that?"

A blue blur with gelled black hair began to whiz among the trees, surrounding them with what appeared to be multiple versions of himself, but really, he was moving so fast that there was multiple frozen images of him surrounding them. His metallic tentacles were wrapped around trees, making him move with incredible speed.

The rest of the class kept running, as Tsuyu, Mina, and Ochako all froze, after having lagged behind all their friends with their slower speed.

They all gasped, seeing frozen images of Kozo surround them, hanging in the trees, before they all disappeared, and a single version of him landed in front of the three girls, the four of them still in their matching blue training suits.

Kozo said nothing, blinking and staring at them with his striking ice cold ocean blue eyes. They tried to run but black vines flew out from Kozo's body, wrapping around a circle of trees in seconds and keeping them locked in like sheep in a pen. Three purple tipped metallic black tentacles emerged from his neck, piercing all three of them in the shoulder with shocked expressions on their faces. Falling asleep from the serum, the three girls crumpled to the ground.

He blinked again calmly, writing down their names and a time on his clipboard.

9:03

He flew upwards into the air, his razor sharp vines willing him away as the class kept running.

Izuku looked over his shoulder while still sprinting with the class, "Where's Uraraka?"

Momo grunted, the class still running, "Yokiji must've picked them off!" She yelled to the group of students following her and Izuku, "Don't split up, we've lost them!"

Bakugo clenched his fists, "I'm going after them! I can take Kozo myself!" He split off running away in the direction they came from, his boots pattering the floor of the forest as he sprinted.

"Kacchan wait!" Izuku shouted, turning around and trying to run after him. Before he could react, Momo swept him off his feet, having the height difference to carry the scrawny boy easily.

"I'm sorry Midoriya, I'm not going to let you sacrifice your grade for his!" She shouted while carrying him, still running towards the center of the forest.

"Yao put me down!" He yelled writhing in her grasp as she ran carrying him.

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Bakugo smiled, the blonde boy smirking arrogantly as he ran towards where Tsuyu, Mina and Ochako were all last seen.

I can take him. I can beat his ass and then get all the glory!

Kozo was standing dead still on the leafy forest floor, crossing his arms while still holding his clipboard. Seeing Bakugo approach, he was ready to write another name down.

"You're dead new kiiiiid!" Bakugo felt rage flow through him like a volcano, before accelerating towards him, blasting forwards with a gleaming hot fist of fury.

Kozo smirked lightly.

Over fifteen metallic black vines flew out from his body and wrapped around Bakugo instantly, before pinning him to a tree with his Quirk. The black tentacles wrapped around the boy snapping his jaws like a madman, tying him to a tree. Bakugo grunted, writhing while pinned.

Bakugo was immobilized, unable to move as the black tentacles kept him pinned to the tree trunk. Kozo looked at his watch, waiting for a minute to pass.

Kozo clicked his pen when it did, writing down his name and a time.

9:06

He took the single black pod holding all of the vines pinning Bakugo to the tree off his neck, before pressing it to the tree trunk and letting it sit there like Mineta's grapes. Apparently Kozo still had the ability to control vines remotely, as the black pod continued to put pressure on Bakugo, the blonde bully still being squeezed to the tree.

Kozo took off into the air, becoming a blue training suited blur as his vines lifted him away, allowing him to move with unbelievable speed. His masculine voice resonated calmly in his head, the teen blurring from his speed.

Four down. Sixteen to go.

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