"I regret to inform you that for the next few weeks the boys' toilets will be out of order. Until those are repaired, the girls` toilets will be considered mixed and available for everyone to use. Thank you for your co-operation.", Shota Aizawa explained in a bored tone while applying some eye drops.
The girls weren't happy with that. At all.
"Seriously? No way! Why?", they moaned irritatedly, looking at their teacher.
"I regret to inform you Beacon currently has no janitor to deal with it. The last one just quit last week."
"What? Then just hire new ones! Why do we all have to suffer from it?"
Shota Aizawa, unkempt and unshaven as always, just smirked.
"Well, maybe, just maybe, some of you students should occasionally try to cut back a bit on the collateral damage on school grounds. Because the janitor had pretty much told us well before that incident in no uncertain terms that he didn't come here to work as an engineer, plumber and gardener in personal union to repair all the wanton destruction you people regularly cause. And after that incident he called us a bunch of crazies and that, and I quote, "I'm not getting frickin paid enough for all the shit those psychotic teenagers always pull and they can all drown in their own excrements as far as I'm concerned!", end of quote."
Some of the students had the decency to blush at that, while others just tried their best to look like innocence incarnated.
"And let me remind you, once you've graduated, you'll be paying all your bills on your own. So maybe try to get into the habit of not driving yourself into debt through collateral damage.", Aizawa continued mercilessly.
"Couldn't Professor Goodwitch repair it easily with her Semblance?", Izuku Midoriya asked. Considering he had experienced firsthand the way Glynda Goodwitch usually repaired most of the damage his One-For-All training left the teacher training grounds with, the boy couldn't help but wonder about that.
"For one thing, she's currently not around due to school business necessitating a short trip for her. Also, if you want to tell Glynda Goodwitch that she should act as a plumber for the sake of some idiots who considered it funny to blow up the toilets with a Dust-fueled prank, be my guest. Especially when the student unlucky enough to sit on that specific toilet is still being treated for mild burns."
Izuku's eyes went wide for a moment, both out of sympathy for that student and due to his firsthand knowledge about Goodwitch's strict character. No way he'd walk into that minefield willingly.
"Sucker deserved it if their aura can't even tank some mild Dust explosion without getting hospitalized. Bunch of weaklings around here.", Katsuki Bakugo grumbled, bored by the whole topic. As far as he was concerned he'd take a piss wherever he frickin wanted, thank you very much. Using the girls' toilets might be a little weird at first, but well, it's not like he was Deku and had to be ashamed of anything.
"Honestly, you're all future Huntsmen who are cohabitating which includes sharing a bathroom. You should be used to a bit of embarrassment by now.", Aizawa added, entirely ignoring Bakugo's lack of empathy.
"That's not the same, boys will at least behave themselves somewhat when they're aware their team would know who is at fault. But mixed public toilets tend to be terrible pits of filth due to everyone acting like they own them and doing whatever they want there!", a second year student complained.
"Pfft, don't make such a big deal out of it, in the future you'll be crapping into bushes during missions most of the times, so shake it off already.", Bakugo sneered at her.
All the girls' eyes turned to him in unison. Luckily none of them had a Semblance to weaponize their annoyed glances. 'The girl that could do that graduated last year.', Aizawa thought.
"Listen up, boys!", Yang Xiao Long declared, while walking up to Aizawa. Then she unceremoniously smacked her hands on the teacher's desk for emphasis until all eyes were on her. Aizawa smirked, content to just watch the show for now.
"Nothing that can be done about it. But this is the rules, better listen while I lay them down for y'all! First, flush when you're done. Or we'll find you, push your face in it like you were an unruly cat and teach you to flush as a live experience that will stick with you due to your head sticking right in it.", the blonde boomed, while Blake did her best to hide herself being offended at that cat part.
"Second, no peeping or using scrolls for any perverted things. Or I'll rip something off so you will be able to keep using the girls' toilets even after yours are repaired. Though no peeping from the girls' front either."
"Like abs-fetish girl should talk!", a few of the boys and girls grumbled under their breath, but were quickly shut up when the blonde bombshell glanced at them with the eyes of a predator at large.
"Third, absolutely no taking a piss while standing or..."
"Or we'll break your legs!", Nora chimed in helpfully, while looking around and grinning maniacally.
"I was about to say we'll kick your ass, but I actually like Nora's plan better. If you won't take a seat by yourself, might as well take away your ability to do anything but sit. And from what I've heard, my girl Nora's an absolute expert on that front, so who am I to object to the assessment of a professional?"
All the girls were hollering, while most of the boys looked suitably embarrassed, intimidated or both.
Thus Yang considered her mission successfully accomplished.
Tenya Iida, all suited up in his armor, was running through the hallways until he was stopped by a third year student. The girl was the acting hall monitor.
"Absolutely no running in the halls! Slow down immediately and state your name and year!"
"Te- Tenya Iida, first year! Bu-, but I, I'm sorry, this really is an emergency! I need to get to the next building in a hurry! So if I could humbly ask of you to step aside.", Tenya gestured in shame, blushing at the mere thought of having violated school rules.
"Surely you can still do so in a manner actually following allowed procedures and code of conduct?", the girl argued, slightly placated by his manners, but still peaking a brow in disapproval.
"It, it's... IT'S A MATTER OF PERSONAL RELIEF AND HYGIENE!", the young boy finally spat out, cramping his legs together in shame.
"If that is supposed to mean you... have to use the bathroom urgently, I assure you the girls toilets are in working condition and you're allowed to use them as a temporal exception, as you should have already been told by one of your teachers."
The girl looked at him commiserating.
"I could lead you there, if you want me to? Maybe you need some help in taking that heavy armor off? Upper classmen are supposed to help out the first years after all. I assure you, it wouldn't be a bother."
By now Tenya Iida was red like a tomato and his eyes widened in utter horror, especially at her last suggestion.
"NO, FOR A YOUNG GENTLEMAN LIKE ME THAT WOULD JUST BE IMPROPER BEHAVIOUR! I'LL JUST USE THE TOILET IN MY TEAM'S ROOM INSTEAD!"
The girl smirked slightly.
"Oh, there's nothing to be embarrassed about! But be that as it may, absolutely no exceptions, there will be no running in the halls under my watchful eye!"
"BUT I, I...", Tenya began, before deciding to swallow the rest of that sentence.
"I'm deeply ashamed about upsetting order and making your job more difficult. I apologize, you do fine doing your duty for the sake of our esteemed school, while I egotistically allowed my base instincts to take over my rational thoughts!", Tenya said with tears in his eyes, bowing deeply to the hall monitor.
The girl blushed at the younger boy's words and the hint of his tears, playing with a lock of her hair, nervously.
"Well, you don't have to actually go that far, bowing that deeply, I'm... sure you didn't mean anything bad by it? You do seem well behaved after all...", she muttered, while watching the poor boy open a window, apparently trying to get some relief for his plight by getting a breath of fresh air. The sight was actually kinda cute.
Then the boy simply jumped outside.
The hall monitor panicked and immediately ran to the window, sticking her head out...
...only to see the first year run down vertically on the side of the building, using what seemed like wind Dust engines built into his armor to achieve an impressive amount of grip and velocity.
The former blush on her face was replaced by the hot flush of the righteous anger of a hall monitor being impeded in her sacred duties.
"Stop right this instant, DELINQUENT !", she screamed after him.
"I'm certainly not running in the hallways and I don't think I'm actually breaking any other school rule by this course of action either, but take my apologies anyways...", the boy's voice faded away.
The girl pulled up her scroll, booting up the school regulations file.
"Damn it, there's gotta be some rule against what that guy is pulling there and I swear I'll find it! Tenya Iida ? I'll remember that name, delinquent !"
"Alright so, Izuku will ask Professor Goodwitch about whether we can use a classroom to set up the birthday party sometime in the next couple days. Good, solid. While I'm setting up the decorations, the beverages and the snacks, with some advice given out by Nora to ensure I don't bring anything too 'boring'..." Weiss muttered as she looked over at her energetic partner, said bubbly bomber just giving a big old grin and a thumbs up as Weiss sighed in some annoyance, "... Nora will go ahead and take Pyrrha out for a day on the town. Anywhere she wants to go, she can go and make a day of it... and Nora and I will convince her to do so even if she's hesitant." Weiss checked those items off the list that she had been organizing of their group's suggestions.
For the past several hours the three of them had huddled down into a little circle in order to dish out what ideas they'd had as far as organizing Pyrrha's birthday would go. Lots of ideas went here and there and quite a few ended up on the cutting room floor because one party or another objected too strongly; as much as they did eat pancakes, Izuku shot down Nora's idea about an all-pancake party, saying that it was 'Pyrrha's' Birthday and that she deserved to have something other than just pancakes offered to eat and that the others might also appreciate some variety. Nora decried this as heresy but, after a while, it was clear the energetic girl did see reason and calmed down. Weiss' suggestion of classical music as an entertainment option was, likewise, gunned down by Nora.
Izuku really didn't have many ideas; he wasn't a partying type of person, either in the going to them or organizing them way, so he didn't have too many ideas. Which was why he was more than happy to listen to Nora and Weiss' advice on the matter so that they could get the best birthday put together for Pyrrha as possible.
"Meanwhile, Izuku handles inviting everyone else and baking the cake. These are a very fair and equitable split of responsibilities, so thank you Izuku."
... Okay, well, he came up with the ideas for 'how' to get Pyrrha's birthday arranged but he wasn't going to step on Weiss' or Nora's toes when it came to actually getting their stuff done.
"O-Oh it's no big deal. After all I cook enough already so it doesn't really seem like I've got a hard job if you ask me..." He scratched the back of his head as Weiss shook her head.
"Come now Izuku, baking a cake is no small feat. After all, we have an entire butler whose job it is to make cakes for celebrations or parties, so it has to be a demanding job." Izuku saw Nora's face go slack for a moment, before a hungry look came over her eyes and a little bit of a drool slipped out the corner of her mouth.
"You... you have a cake butler?" Weiss couldn't help but grin a little bit at that as she shrugged her shoulders.
"I suppose I do at that, Nora."
"... I want to live your life for one day..." Nora muttered just low enough for only Izuku to hear it and Izuku couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of what Nora would do with a cake butler. After a moment, he frowned as he brought his hand to his chin, thinking deeply as he realized... he had no idea what to get Pyrrha for her birthday. He had 100 Lien on his card, sure, but... well, that wasn't not much for a birthday present, was it?
"Hey, guys..." Nora and Weiss turned to face him as he looked up at them, a slight frown on his features. "I only actually have 100 Lien on hand... I was wondering... what kind of present do you think Pyrrha would like? I mean, I want to get her something she'd actually like but... well, I have no idea what to get her... or if I have the money to actually get her something she'd actually like. You guys have hung around with her and you're... well, girls." Izuku coughed into his fist at that, his face slightly red as Weiss and Nora nodded at the obvious. "What do you think Pyrrha would like as a present?
Before Weiss could get a word out edgewise, he felt Nora flicked a finger at his forehead, causing him to flinch back as the orange haired girl just smiled ruefully.
"Silly Izuku, what kind of thinking is that? Pyrrha would love just about 'any' gift we'd get her, heck, especially if we came up with something nice ourselves! She probably already gets loads of super expensive or flashy gifts from fans or crazy people, so she wouldn't give a lick if it wasn't all the money you had in your account. Heck, she'd probably be thrilled if you just baked her an amazingly nice cake!" Nora exclaimed excitedly as Weiss narrowed her gaze.
"Nora, that last point isn't just because 'you'd' like it if Izuku spent a lot of money on cake ingredients to bake a nice one, is it?" Izuku saw Nora chuckle somewhat nervously as she scratched the back of her head.
"What? Come one Weiss, what kind of person do you take me for? Of course that's not the only reason! I'm sure Pyrrha would love it too!" Weiss sighed as she shook her head at Nora's... well, Noraness, but the Heiress did turn to face him.
"While I would think carefully about fully believing Nora's take on the cake... I don't think she's wrong either. Pyrrha doesn't really seem to like flashy stuff or a lot of attention. That's why we're trying to arrange for some place quiet and private rather than somewhere out in Vale. Just make it something nice Izuku... like a cake I guess..." Weiss glared over at Nora who had been poking her in her side with a smile, "-and I'm sure Pyrrha would enjoy it." Izuku nodded in understanding as the three of them quickly got down to the business of handling the birthday preparations.
xXxXxXxXxXx
Izuku took deep, long breath as he slowly but surely bent his knees. In the training arena he and Glynda had used to work with One For All for these past several weeks, he was currently facing a corner where two of the walls happened to meet. He'd been training for several hours and, despite himself, he was taking another attempt at it. He felt tired but he just needed to get another round in. Just to try to get better at his control! He took a deep, long breath as he closed his eyes and did his best to push One For All through his system, as much as he could handle.
He felt 5% of One For All focus itself into his legs, pumping him full of energy as he chanced a glance up the particular wall he was looking to scale this time. With a short yell he burst off the ground, boosted up by the power he had churning through his legs. With a mighty leap he was sent a good ways up the length of the wall, far more than he might ordinarily be, as his feet briefly kicked up against the wall to send him higher. Now, as his eyes glanced over to the other wall, for the hard part. He did his best to bring One For All into his arms in order to help launch himself off the wall and onto the other one... and he actually pulled it off! He pushed off the wall with all his might and soar towards the other one that made up the corner. He was looking to go even higher, to force his body to go even further beyond...
Which was right when he felt his control over One For All slip while he was at least twenty feet pushed up into the air thanks to his previous successes.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" He hit the wall face first and, though that pain wasn't enough to make him scream, the fact that he was falling like a limp noodle down towards the wooden floor 'was'. As he was rocketing down toward the ground, however, he eventually felt something reach around him and slow his descent, a familiar energy shining around his body as his fall slowed to a crawl, whereupon he was able to set his feet firmly on the ground with no issues at all. He took several deep breaths, at this point just grateful to have gotten back on the ground without slamming onto his back or head, as Glynda slowly approached.
"I think that's enough for today Mr. Midoriya. As eternally amusing as it is to stop you from falling and breaking your back, I'm afraid even I can have my fill of fun." The deeply sarcastic tone of Glynda's voice told him that she had about had her limit of him training himself to such ends for today as well and, with a slight sigh, he nodded his head and admitted his defeat for now. "I swear, even when you're not breaking your bones you're finding new and interesting ways of putting your body into peril. I shudder to think what might've gone on if I hadn't decided to oversee you."
"And I do appreciate it Miss Goodwitch, really! I know you probably have a million different things to be doing given your position, so I'm sorry for wasting your time, but..." Izuku watched as Glynda's face seemed to strain as he went about apologizing and offering up his reasons. Unbeknownst from his perspective, he had inadvertently begun giving what his friends had rapidly referred to as the 'puppy dog eyes'. Eyes which, despite his age, still seemed to be quite effective as he defaced himself.
"Mr. Midoriya, it's quite alright..." She said with a sighed as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I wouldn't have offered by time if I didn't think helping the next Symbol of Peace prepare himself wouldn't be a good use of it." Izuku smiled slightly as he nodded and, following that, Glynda just clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "Now run along. I think your friends will be quite relieved that you aren't coming back from a training exercise with any injuries at all this time around." His smile widened; that's actually probably true, when he thought about it I mean, after all, Pyrrha's birthday was that week, and he needed to... oh, hey, that's right.
"Miss Goodwitch?" Glynda turned to face him as he spoke up, watching as he rubbed his elbow slightly as he thought of how to word his question. "Listen... Pyrrha's birthday is this week and we've been discussing ideas for how we can help her celebrate it. We figure she wouldn't want anything big or out in the open, so we were thinking we could have a private little party with just our friends here on campus... but none of our dorm rooms are big enough." Yeah, twelve people stuffed into one room could be a bit tricky and even Glynda seemed to agree with that. "So I was wondering if there was any way we could... I dunno, borrow a classroom after school hours?" Izuku saw Glynda stiffen up a bit as she brought her hand to her chin, stroking it slightly while she thought.
"... I don't know Mr. Midoriya. That's a bit of an odd request. Most people usually hold parties somewhere out on the town for these kinds of things. Classrooms are usually only assigned for Club Activities... I think you can imagine the sort of precedent we'd set if we suddenly started allowing them to be loaned out for students to party..." Izuku frowned slightly as, yeah, his imagination 'did' envision what might happen if students suddenly thought they could use classrooms after hours for celebrations.
"I understand Professor but... well, it's only the twelve of us and Pyrrha wouldn't really like the attention if we went out in Vale, I think. Please? I promise that the room will be just as clean when we leave as when we found it! Heck, maybe even cleaner!" Izuku watched Glynda's frown furrow more as the older woman considered the request...
"... You promise?" Izuku nodded fervently as Glynda seemed to take this under consideration. "... I wouldn't believe that coming out of most students. Fine Mr. Midoriya, I will allow you to use a classroom for this celebration... however, I have stipulations that must be followed... break my trust on any of these and I assure you, you won't have another opportunity like this again. Understood?" He nodded his head fervently as Glynda snapped her riding crop slightly, pointing it in his face which caused him to snap to attention. "No alcohol, no illicit substances, no destroyed property and, most importantly, under any circumstance, 'no roaming about campus with the party'. You want this room? You keep the party to it." Glynda brought her riding crop back to her side as she looked down at him. "Are these terms amenable, Izuku Midoriya? I will hold 'all' of your friends and yourself accountable if these terms are broken."
"Yes ma'am."
"Good," the taller woman turned, and began to march out of the room. Izuku just sighed, glad that he wasn't being glared at anymore. However, as she heard the door to the room open, he heard her offer one last word.
"Oh," a smirk on the edge of her words, "And have fun."
xXxXxXxXxXx
The party meant a lot to Izuku.
As he tied his apron's knot behind him, a determined look on his face, he considered just what it meant. It would be the first time, ever, that he was arranging or doing anything special for a friend. He hadn't grown up with a lot and even while he and Kacchan had been friends, it hadn't exactly been long enough for him to do anything special for his birthday. That was usually left to his parents or his mom. It was the first time he had a responsibility to a friend to make sure their birthday was something great, something they'd remember, something that would show how their friendship meant to him.
That it was Pyrrha, his partner, who had been of such a huge help to his, who had so much confidence and belief in him when even he was nervous, that just meant he had to go Plus Ultra and make sure everything would go well! With a firm nodded he finished tucking his hair into a hairnet, a pretty big one for that dense forest he called hair, and then looked to his ingredients. They were some pretty fancy stuff. Pure vanilla extract, buttermilk, baking soda, good quality flour, confectioner's sugar and lots and lots of eggs upon a myriad of other ingredients. He may have only been well-versed in making pancakes so far, but that didn't mean he lacked experience in the kitchen over all thanks to all those late nights making snacks for Nora.
He quickly cracked his fingers as he immediately began going through the recipe.
Baking a cake was a pretty complicated process compared to pancakes, he had to keep his eye on a lot of dough balls. There was the icing to look after to make sure it was actually forming up well, the cake itself which had to be constantly looked after to make sure he didn't overdo it, then there was the actual design phase. He was no artist so he knew a missed corner here and there was going to be inevitable.
That just meant he had to go back and make it look as pretty as possible once he finished with the overall layer.
Hours went by but, soon enough, the two cakes took form. Nice and large and, to an outside perspective, definitely looking delicious. With a slight frown, he knew that his moment had come. Taking a pinkie finger he quickly dabbed it into one of the cake's frosting, took a lick, cleaned it, and then repeated...
Huh, the cakes pretty much tasted exactly the same.
And they tasted 'great'!
He couldn't help the smile that came over as he untied the knot of his apron. He finished the cake... and managed to make two cakes of the 'exact' same quality, somehow! That was good as far as he was concerned; that just meant that there'd definitely be enough cake for everyone to have at least two pieces. Hopefully everyone else liked it as well, though given that he wasn't much of a sweet tooth and he liked these cakes, he had to imagine it'd be fine for everyone else as well...
A quick dab to disguise the areas where he did his quick taste test and the cake was good to go... now, for Pyrrha's gift.
xXxXxXxXxXx
The tools felt familiar in his hands as he sat down, a block of wood placed right in front of him as he stared at it with a determined vigor. It'd been a while since he'd taken to carving and, before, that had been to make little custom figurines before...
How much harder could it be to make two symmetrical, smooth halves of a wooden locket? I mean sure, carefully carving out the insides to make room for the team photo the guys took with the Ursa would be a bit tricky just because he 'really' didn't want to accidentally punch a hole in his progress and have to start over but hey, if he was careful then that wouldn't happen, right? He wasn't 'any' good at metalworking at all, especially not when it came to jewelry, and he didn't really know any of his friends who really did... maybe Ruby and Tenya would be able to manage with their own experience but, well, he could ask them when he actually had most of a locket to present them. For now he had to just wipe the sweat from his brow and get down to carving.
The carving ended up being an even more time consuming process than baking the cakes, though for a different reason. With the cakes there was just so much to keep up with and do all at once, so many processes and steps you had to take in order to ensure that everything turned out right. It was a labor and a half and it demanded his time as such. With carving, it was taking up time because he had to be so careful. One false move and all his progress would be undone. One wrong chip and his wood would, essentially, be useless. He needed it to be symmetrical so that it would look nice. He needed to keep it looking just right to be sure that Pyrrha's gift would look nice! Then he had to start carving out the interior so that the picture could be slipped in once everything would be done... and there were SO many close calls. So many moments where his hand nearly slipped and split the locket right in two or where he nearly carved off an entire chunk when he only needed to carve a slip.
Yet, when all was said and done, he didn't make those horrific mistakes. He didn't horrifically butcher the wood carving and, in fact, it looked quite good if he did say so himself.
Which he did, so that was that. He sighed in relief as he once again cleaned his brow with an increasingly damp rag, the sensitivity of the task at hand having made him increasingly nervous. Now, however, raising his hard work into the light to take a good look at it, he couldn't help but smile. It looked good, he thought... hopefully Pyrrha would think so too...
Especially when it was done.
xXxXxXxXxXx
"Wow Deku, this looks really good! It's so smooth and everything! I'm sure Pyrrha'll love it!"
Izuku smiled and blushed under Ruby's praise as he sheepishly scratched at the back of his head. Izuku had gone to ask Tenya and Ruby to see if they'd be willing to help him by forging and crafting the metallic bits of Pyrrha's gift for him, as he had basically no skill at it at all. To his surprise, Tenya had refused; not because he didn't want to help but because, in his words, he'd be exceptionally poor help. While Tenya was a wiz when it came to design and doing the work of setting pieces into their place, upgrading and repairing them, when it came to actually fashioning the material in the first place he wasn't quite skilled. He usually depended on his own family's various industries to fabricate the various pieces of his armor. He was no smith, in other words, but he was a wiz at design.
Which had left Ruby Rose who most 'definitely' was a wiz when it came to smithing, especially when she had a design to work with, which was why she had ordered so many weapon magazines.
She couldn't afford the full finished products most of the time but she'd tell him, Ruby Rose could certainly reproduced them with enough familiarity and practice.
Though, she did hesitate to add, she wasn't great with jewelry. Considering that it was either her or taking it to a professional to have it done for a much larger price, he was willing to take the chance on Ruby.
Which brought the two of them to the forge.
"Thanks Ruby... I really hope so. I wanted to make something nice but simple... hopefully it'll be good enough."
"Psssht!" Came Ruby's artful response as she prepared a work-station, a pair of welding goggles secured onto her eyes as she smiled over at him. "Please, as if she could do anything 'but' love this! It's gonna be a great gift Deku!" Izuku couldn't help but feel uplifted by Ruby's optimism as she secured the two halves of the wooden locket onto the work station, a suddenly nervous grin crossing her face. "Errr... that is, if I don't mess this up." It was Izuku's turn to just smile at the younger girl and offer her some encouragement.
"Come on Ruby, you've got this! I'm sure you'll do great!" While his own words seemed to do little to make her less nervous, she clearly appreciated the vote of confidence. With a deep breath Ruby brought out her various tools and began to get to work.
He'd never really seen anyone deal with the direct metalwork of making an item before, so watching the process first hand was actually pretty interesting. He watched as Ruby took careful time and energy to make sure each of the metal pieces and bits necessary to hold the locket in place where secured to the wood without burning it or breaking it, a fine layer of sweat having gathered on Ruby's own forehead as the heat from her various tools washed back on her. The young weapon-crazed woman's work was slowly accomplished bit by bit, a confident smile growing on her lips as her work slowly came to more and more completion. As the necessary work was completed on the locket, its hinges in working order and the two halves secured to each other without worry of breakage, Ruby chanced a glance over her shoulder back to Izuku.
"So have you thought about what kind of design you'd like on the face of the locket?" Izuku blinked curiously as he tapped his chin, trying to think.
"Hmmm... well, how about a Mandevilla?" He suggested, Ruby's smile growing as she nodded in agreement.
"Yeah totally, your team name would look great on this!" Before Ruby could continue he shook his head and hands vigorously to draw her attention back.
"No, no, I don't mean like a MNVW, but an actual Mandevilla in bloom. It's a pretty geometrically simple flower so I figured it'd be easy enough for you to work out the design and... well, I think it might look better than just the team name. It'd be a reminder for her about all of us: that we'll always be there for her as friends and comrades and that, together, we'll grow beyond what we are now and bloom to become great Hunters in the future." Izuku chuckled nervously as he scratched the back of his head. "It sounds kinda silly saying it out loud, I guess, but I thought it sounded like a nice idea." He turned up to look at Ruby to see her reaction and, he admitted, he was surprised to find her with those silver eyes of her wide and watering slightly as she threatened to cry in a comical matter.
"... Maaan... my gift's gonna look lame by comparison..." Ruby said with a small laugh as she put the goggles back over her eyes. "Welp, stand back and let a girl work Deku! I gotta get this done if Pyrrha's gonna have a totally awesome present!" With that Ruby got back to work, folding the metal bits in preparation for the final design. Ruby's previous handiwork made getting on with the rest of the crafting pretty simple as the young girl worked from a picture of a Mandevilla to recreate its rather simple geometric shapes. A bend here, a fold in the metal here and a good application of heat to make sure it fit into place before letting it cool down so that it could set in nice and hard and eventually Ruby Rose presented you with a finished and, if Izuku had to say so, quite nice looking locket.
"Thanks Ruby, I really appreciate this! I think you're right... I think Pyrrha will really like this!" Enthusiasm slowly built in his chest as, slowly but surely, he became more and more sure that his present to Pyrrha would hit the mark. As Ruby put the various tools away and cleaned herself off, he quickly slipped the photograph of his team together into place, locking it in and taking another cursory look over the locket, a bright grin shining on both their faces.
"I told you! You got nothing to worry about Deku! This and the party will be fantastic! Pyrrha's gonna have the best birthday ever... so long as the cake's good." Izuku chuckled, his own good mood able to bounce Ruby's joke off from hitting his nerves. Even if the cake wasn't great, he thought Pyrrha would be more than willing to give him a pass on that. Besides, the cake was great, so there was nothing to worry about at all there. Yessir, nothing to worry about at all...
...
Would Pyrrha have preferred a chocolate cake? Oh Gods, he forgot to ask before he even bothered to make the cake! HOLY WOAH THIS COULD BE A-
"Calm down Deku!" Ruby placed a hand on his shoulder and shook him a bit, knocking him out of his spiral. Even then his nerves were immediately sent on the fray because 'a girl was touching you', but that was quickly fixed as Ruby took her hand off of him. "I was joking! Pyrrha'll love it, I'm sure! You're a good cook if Nora's anything to go by so just calm down, okay! Everything will be great!" He took a deep breath as he nodded his head, a ghost of a smile returning to his lips.
"Y-Yeah, everything will be great..."
"AH-HA HA HA HA HA! Listen up newbies! Today's exercise is going for be an every man and woman for themselves race!" After the votes had been counted and it was clear what the class wanted, everyone nodded in some excitement as Toshinori just grinned at them all. "Now then, I meant what I said when I was describing the exercise; there are no rules for this race, anything goes. Any Semblance, any weapon, any trick, any scheme and any possibility for victory! The only thing that isn't allowed is coordinated action; you all are operating solo on this test." Again, everyone looked at Izuku as he chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "In your careers as Huntsmen and Huntresses, you'll face many unexpected and dangerous obstacles when in pursuit of a criminal or a Grimm. You never know what might be around a corner or what your opponents might have up their sleeves in order to drive you off or surprise you long enough for them to get away. Intelligent Grimm can be tricky creatures in this regard as well; even as driven by hatred and destruction as the Grimm are, many of the smarter ones will run so that they might live and kill another day."
"This exercise is meant to simulate that uncertainty and your classmates, those willing anyway, will be the ones to simulate those obstacles. They'll be the intelligent Grimm that acts in a way you hadn't foreseen, the criminal with an ace up his sleeve to drive you off his heels or with accomplices nearby ready to push you off. Even people you might have considered allies or neutral parties can surprise you; there have been some cases where terrorists have hidden among hostages, ready to strike at unaware Huntsmen and Huntresses in tight situations where one's attention might not be focused on the task at hand! Of course, the grade will go on a scale from those who come in first to those who come in last... just to give those of you who might not otherwise feel inclined to get in the way of other classmates a reason to do so." Izuku saw a bunch of solemn nods from his fellow classmates as various eyes darted about, everyone taking everyone else in.
"You each have five minutes to decide what you're going to do! Use it wisely... I assure you, there will be those students in your groups who will." Toshinori gave a loud laugh at that as he stood back, everyone immediately turning their gaze on the make-shift race track, himself included.
'How am I going to do this…'
As soon as Toshinori blew the whistle for the challenge to begin it was chaos. Pure, unadulterated chaos. Izuku watched, slightly surprised, as a torrent of rose petals immediately took up the front of the pack and blew right past it, Ruby Rose appearing on the other end of the torrent as she turned around for a moment, blew a raspberry at the other competitors, and then proceeded to sprint off. What followed next was even more chaotic. He felt a chill rise up his spine as the very air itself seemed to freeze over, everyone turned their attention to Shoto Todoroki as the young man crushed an Ice Dust Crystal in his hands. Afterward he stomped his foot on the ground and, lo and behold, a huge wave of ice suddenly covered the ground. Everyone immediately jumped up, doing their best to avoid their feet being caught up in the ice as it passed them. A great many students succeeded but many more failed as the ice overtook thirty yards of space in front of them and a significant distance behind Shoto.
"Sorry about this, but if I'm going to catch up to my leader, I can't have people on my heels." With that Shoto immediately ran off after Ruby, his feet easily crossing the ice field as, wherever he stepped, the uneven and slippery ground seemed to give way under his feet to provide him with more solid footing.
"Oh please, as if he's the only person here who has a talent with Dust..." Izuku heard Weiss call out as, suddenly, several glyphs form on the ground. The trio of Glyphs were quite large, stretched out so as to be able to cross the distance of Shoto's ice field and, having been the one to summon them forth, Weiss was the first person to immediately start sprinting across them.
From there, the chaos roared as numerous students did their best to get on top of the glyphs and secure their place on the 'easy track'. He watched, dumbfounded, as Nora and Yang easily battered their way to the front of the chaotic line. The pair sent students flying before they burst forth into the front, easily shoving their way onto the glyphs and crossing the difficult terrain, hot on Weiss' heels. Out of everyone though Ren seemed to have the easiest time; most people stopped hitting each other and arguing as Ren ran by, the sea of people calming considerably as Ren approached which allowed the Mistrali teen to easily make his way through them. Blake and Tsuyu, meanwhile, seem content to cross through less drastic means that fit with each of their styles far better. You watch as, with a great deal of grace, Blake easily hops, skips and jumps across the heads and shoulders of various Beacon students in order to cross the gap of the ice field while Tsuyu, being the Frog Faunus that she was, just gave a quick 'Ribbit ribbit' before hopping in leaps and bounds across the treacherous, icy terrain.
That's when Izuku heard two loud eruptions of noise come from just beside him. his head swiveled as he took a gander around and saw equally terrifying sights on both sides. Tenya, geared out in his armor, had fired up his leg engines with what had to have been a great deal of the Wind Dust he kept packed away in his suit. Meanwhile Izuku watched as Bakugo lowered his hands toward the ground and, with a violent look on his face, immediately began producing a long, continuous explosion from his hands.
"YOU WON'T GET AWAY FROM ME THIS TIME RUNT, I'VE LEARNED MY LESSON! DIIEEEEEE!" With a loud roar Kacchan propelled himself off the ground, keeping his feet tucked up close to him as he used the force of his explosion to not only speed himself up but to also propel himself up and over the icy terrain.
"I'm afraid I can't allow myself to be shown up either, especially not by my teammates. What kind of leader would I be if I let myself fall behind!" With that Tenya's leg engines erupted and, with a burst of speed, he sprinted across the icy terrain. Despite the difficulty of it, Tenya was easily crossing it and, with his speed and the heat of the engines, he practically tore open a path behind him. Of course the ice filled back in as soon as he left but it was still an impressive sight to see.
"Holy shit, would you look at the Invincible Girl go? No tricks or nothing, she's just truckin'!" Izuku cast a glance to his side to see that, indeed, Pyrrha seemed to be just running across the top of the icy expanse with no trouble at all. However, as her partner, he'd come to learn to keep an eye out for Pyrrha's Semblance... and he did see the faint, black outline of Pyrrha's Polarity surrounding the various metallic bits of her clothing, practically lifting her up off the ground just enough to keep her footfalls from sinking too heavily into the icy clutches beneath her.
Izuku took a deep breath as he eyed the crowd that has gathered in front of the Glyphs. The simple truth of the matter was that he didn't have a lot of options; he could run across the field of ice but he didn't have Kacchan's explosions or Pyrrha's Semblance to help ease him across... nor was he as inhumanly fast as Tenya when he was activated his engines. He wasn't acrobatic or agile on the same level as Blake or Tsuyu, so jumping his way across didn't exactly appeal either. He'd probably end up just costing himself more time that way then actually making effective progress, even with his shotguns. Then there was the idea of using One For All to Smash his way through but... well, that presented two problems; Shoto could just close up whatever path he made and, even if he didn't, Izuku's path would end up much like Weiss' Glyphs: everyone would want to use them. Sure, maybe he'd get first use out of them but, well, he wanted to win the race. Giving more people a chance to get past the first obstacle easily didn't exactly fit in with that plan. So Izuku immediately charged into the fray of people fighting over Weiss' Glyphs.
At first it was so incredibly hard; he shoved and shouldered and pushed but he was just getting caught up in the sea of chaos surrounding him, people doing their best to throw him out of the way in order to make their own progress. For a moment, it really did seem like he was going to stall there.
Then, however, he tapped into that 5% of what he could control of One For All and, immediately, he felt his body surge with raw strength. One moment he was being kicked around and pushed by the other students and then, in the next moment, he was the one doing the pushing and shoving. He ground his teeth together as he poured One For All into his arms and 'forced' his way through the crowd. Sure he might not be sending people flying, however, a lot of people were pushed to the side or otherwise just bodily shoved out of his path by the force he was applying. It isn't terribly long at all before he was making his way to the other side of the crowd and he could, finally, actually start running in this race.
"Yo, what's the matter Shoto? Can't you just 'chill' and not do that kind of stuff to-"
*THWWWWAAP*
"OW! DARN YOUR REACH TSU!"
"Ribbit ribbit."
Yang's diatribe had been cut off by her partner's usual reaction to her puns but Izuku couldn't help his furrowed brow. It wasn't like it wasn't a smart move by Shoto to do these things; out of all of them, except for Maybe Kacchan, Shoto was capable of really messing with most of the competition through his Semblance's abilities. Kacchan would've been dangerous in and of himself, but it seemed like he was more interested in using his Semblance to boost his own performance with the hope of keeping up with Ruby and Tenya.
Perhaps it was the fact that there were still so many behind him, combined with Yang's mild tease, that caused Shoto to look back at those of them who hadn't just sped off ahead with an apologetic look as he crushed another Ice Dust Crystal in his hands. With a stomp of his foot, a myriad of ice pillars and obstacles that, coming together, form a craggy, if intimidating, wall in his wake. Yang growled out in frustration as Shoto continued to run to try and catch up with the other members of the race. Izuku watched as a good number of his friends stop before the obstacles and then, with grit teeth, made their way around it, not possessing the innate skills themselves to get over it.
However, a couple of his friends did and it was quite easy to watch them as they put those skills to use. Blake and Pyrrha, graceful fighters above all else, seemed quite able to take advantage of the craggy, uneven nature of Shoto's wall in order to traverse it, quickly hopping off of edges of the wall and using makeshift foot and hand holds in order to quickly make their way over it and, that time, it was clear to him that Pyrrha hadn't needed to use her Semblance to get her across. Tsuyu, being Tsuyu, just gave a quick croak before she jumped over the wall with relative ease. Izuku watched as Weiss fell further behind compared to the rest of them all... but as he turned his attention forward, he swore he felt the charge of Lightning Dust beginning to gather behind him.
Meanwhile he kept his eyes on his desired position; first place. Ruby was putting her Semblance to good use compared to Toshinori's first test: instead of just constantly keeping it going like she had way back during the first week, she was using it in short bursts to help propel her forward some distances, allowing her to cover more ground more easily. Kacchan was still screaming as he used his explosions to burst forward, the great stream of fire erupting from his palms as he kept zooming forward. Speaking of zooming and fire he watched as Tenya activated his engines again and put even more gas into it, bursting forward into the immediate competition for First Place thanks to his efforts... though the smoke and heat that was coming off his engines was noticeable even to Izuku.
That just left Izuku and how he was going to deal with things.
He started taking deep breaths as he got closer and closer to the ice wall, his pace not slowing a bit as he ran right up to it. The idea's in his head and there was no way he was going to stop! With a quick moment's thought he deactivated the safeties on Emerald Gust, pulling the metal cover back over his fingers as he stretched them out. 'Jeez, this was going to be really, really, 'really' cold,' but it was the best idea he had at the moment. As he got right up on the wall he bent his knees and squatted as low as he could, tightening his body like a spring. Then, with a shout, he jumped up, his fingers outstretched as his eyes glanced about for a handhold somewhere on the ice wall he could use. His emerald eyes went wide as he noticed a solid ledge not too far from the top of the wall and, with a scream, he grabbed onto it, digging the metal of his boots into the wall as well to keep himself steady.
...
'HOLY WOAH IT WAS WAY COLDER THAN I THOUGHT IT'D BE!'
With a quick scream of surprise from the pain his fingers suddenly felt directly touching the wall of ice he pulled himself up and over it. The others runners who'd decided to go around it, and those who'd just jumped or parkoured their way up, watched with a bit of stunned surprise as he just hoisted himself up and over the wall, getting some distance over those who went around and keeping pace with the others who went over it.
"Hey there Izuku, how you doing Fearless Leader?"
"I THINK MY HANDS HAVE FROSTBITE!"
"Okay cool, see you at the finish line!"
Nora's quick check in with him as he took a quick drop from the top of the wall and landed back on solid ground. Okay, so maybe you were exaggerating when he said his thought he had Frostbite but really, it still hurt a lot. His fingers were nearly white from the cold and shivering and, to get some warmth back in them, he took a moment to shove them under his armpits while he started running again. Admittedly this only had the immediate result of making his armpits super cold but, eventually, between his running and his own natural body heat you managed to get feeling, other than pain that was, back in his fingers.
It wasn't long before you hear the pounding of other feet behind him as other students managed to get up and over the wall. He chanced a glance behind him and boggled a bit at the number of students who were still chasing though; he was just barely short of being able to count them on both his hands. Shoto's work has really proven itself here, the guy had essentially left the vast majority of the field in the dust. Still, looking forward to Shoto who seemed... slower than usual, he couldn't help but wonder if he felt the same way, given that all of you have managed to stay up so close to him. The frustrated look on his face seemed to communicate as such as Izuku all just continue to move forward. Ruby was way ahead, followed by Tenya and Kacchan, while the rest of them hug around roughly the same point in the race.
It could be just about anyone's game to get into the top ten or, Heck, even the top five.
Well, maybe that potential game just got a lot shorter if the sudden blur of motion that nearly knocked Izuku off his feet has anything to say about it. He blinked, completely in shock, as Weiss just burned a trail straight through his group of the pack, the Heiress covering a truly insane amount of distance as you all watch her go. Izuku could, distantly, see a slight smirk on Weiss' face as she ended up just completely passing them all by and heading for the front of the pack and, if his eyes weren't betraying you, she might be moving even faster than Ruby.
"Holy Schnee-t!"
*THWAAAAP!*
"Ouch!" Yang rubbed the back of her head as Tsuyu finished clocking her across the back of her head with her tongue... from right above her. They all watch as Tsuyu managed to hop right on past them all, leaping huge distances each time she touches down on the ground as she gives quick ribbits. Tenya seemed to be slowing down back to a more manageable pace which was leaving it, from his vision, pretty easy for Weiss and Tsuyu to catch up as the two young woman finally managed to make a breakout after all the obstacles Shoto put in everyone's way. This, not surprisingly, seemed to greatly annoy Kacchan as he suddenly had so many people nipping at his heels for second place. With Shoto no longer causing mass chaos on the field, it seems like things are settling down for your group; Ruby, Kacchan, Tenya, Weiss and Tsuyu are breaking out in the front, Shoto's behind them and, increasingly, you're catching up to him and Izuku led the remainder of the field, his feet slamming against the ground as he pushed himself forward.
'Need to be careful,' Izuku thought, 'This is the last stretch, and I can't let anyone knock me off the path.'
He began to see some eyes glancing about in not just his group but the group in front of him. Competition was stiff and people wanted to win... Izuku couldn't help but feel in his gut that Shenanigans were incoming after Shoto's moves were no longer hanging over their heads.
Izuku realized he was at a rather odd position in the field when all of this was said and done. Far back enough from the people with a decided lead to not factor into their race and getting increasingly ahead of the rest of his friends, he was not quite in immediate reach for everyone to immediately grab at or interfere with. That fact became more and more clear as he saw Kacchan begin lobbing minor explosions around the front of the pack to try to drive them off or back or trip people up while, behind him, Yang and Nora started shouldering each other to try to edge the other out for a lead. It was the start of a very mild form of chaos that rocked both sides of the field, though it largely left him in a place where he was pretty much left alone by the rest of his friends.
Or so he thought, up until he felt the swish of a whip hit a spot where his foot had been previously. He gave a small yelp as he jumped up and ahead, sending his gaze backward where Blake reeled Gambol Shroud back into her grasp, a somewhat sheepish, if not fully apologetic, look on her face as she gave a shrug, as if to say 'had to give it a shot, right'. For Izuku though he was not quite in the position to want to give any of these shenanigans a shot and, while Pyrrha did send a glance his way, she seemed hesitant to do so either... especially while she already had to deal with the 'very' competitive Nora and Yang. So in the end he just kept on sprinting, going as hard and as fast as he could to try and earn his own spot in the field but, also, to try and catch up to the rest. The key word being 'try'. Even with their own distractions between Kacchan's boost, Weiss' Glyph, Ruby's Semblance, Tsuyu's incredible leaps and some last minute boosts by Tenya, it seemed like the front of the pack is pretty much settled.
There was a brief, brief moment where he considered tapping into your Semblance, into One For All. Not just in a light sense either; no, he considered pulling out 100% of One For All and pushing it into one of his legs, or both of them, in order to just leap the distance between his current spot in the field and the front line.
Two things stopped him; one, it probably wouldn't look great if he used 100% of One For All to win a race, especially if the collateral hurt anyone. Second, even if he was inclined to use it, he... really couldn't think of a way to safely stop himself before he splatted on a wall. Probably a really bad idea, all things told. So instead he just focused on his running and getting on ahead.
In the end, the insane speeds of the leads of the pack and his own consistent pace throughout the race pretty much decided the top spots. Surprising absolutely everyone, Weiss actually ended up edging out Ruby for first place, followed up by Ruby, Tsuyu, Bakugo and Tenya. Izuku did end up passing Shoto eventually, his strange slowness putting him at a pace slower than his, though his own commanding lead and how he distracted most of his friends ended up putting him in a spot just behind Izuku. From there Pyrrha, Blake, Yang, Nora and Ren, who seemed content to just hang back and let the others rough it out for their various places. Eventually all the other students made their way to the finish line with mixed results.
Finishing in the top ten out of the entire class of First Years wasn't a mean feat and, judging by Toshinori's look of pride and the somewhat hidden thumbs up he gave Izuku, he wasn't disappointed either.
E/N: The toilet bombings bit is Juvenile Delinquents by Vandalgyon. You'll be seeing more of that plot thread next update.
-Shovern