Five days had passed since the school assembly and none of the class had any luck finding a work study. Ragdoll was too much of a klutz to get much of anything done and even Shizuku was out of luck since Endo had refused to answer any calls in the past two days. She joked that she was excited to surprise him with her new look, but deep down, her classmates could tell she was worried about her boyfriend. According to the news, the space crew had landed safely and she had even seen a video of Endo wheeling off the craft, but that didn't stop her from getting anxious.
It was about halfway through homeroom when something unexpected happened. "Um… Ms. Ragdoll? Is it okay to come in now?"
"Hmm? Who is it?" The teacher asked.
"What do you mean who is it?!" The sliding door slammed in, revealing three somewhat riled students.
"Oh! Yeah that's right! You guys are the Big Three! I forgot you were coming today!"
"Huh?" Class C looked back and forth between their teacher and the three students.
The first was a plain looking blond boy with exceptionally bulging muscles. The second was a cute girl with periwinkle hair and a childlike personality you could glean from just looking at her. The third one was all doom and gloom. His hair mostly hid his eyes as he stared at the ground, only his elf-like ears peeking out the side of his head were visible.
"Sorry about that you guys!" The blond scratched his head amicably, "My name's Togata Mirio! This is Nejire Hado and Tamaki Amajiki. We're the Big Three!" The class was silent, "Oho! Tough crowd huh? Well, us Big Three are the top ranked students in the school! Not to brag or anything!"
"Mirio… you're overwhelming them," Tamaki said, his voice just barely audible.
As Nejire jumped around the class, asking about Quirks, everyone looked right at Ragdoll and Mirio, still unsure as to what was even going on.
Thankfully, their teacher finally got ahold of herself, "These three are here to talk to you about their work studies and how it helped them become better heroes!"
"These guys are the top three?" Vincent whispered to Nikiya.
"They seem kinda odd," Kenichi blurted out.
At that moment Tamaki sighed and just walked out of the room, as if he knew something they didn't and Nejire hopped up and down, excited for some odd reason.
"How about this? We don't have a lot of time, so in order to show you how I learned from my study… how about we fight?"
As the class would later find out, Mirio did this to both A and B, which is why the other two acted so oddly.
Only Shizuku was allowed to use her hero gear since otherwise she would be naked. Everyone else, including Mirio, were dressed in their P.E. outfits. Shinso and Ashira, oddly enough, decided to sit that one out, claiming that, "It was a worthless fight for them."
"So you want us to just fight you all at once?"
"Yep!"
"Ya know, we may be your underclassmen, but we've still fought plenty of baddies."
Mirio chuckled, "You and Class A have more in common than I thought!"
"Alright guys! Let's show him what we're made of!"
As the melee fighters transformed or underwent their various preparations, the ranged fighters shot out waves of attacks. But none of them hit, in fact, they just passed right through his body. And then, he fell through the floor.
"Huh?"
Kaito called out to Vincent, "Where is he?!"
Vincent spun in a circle, "I-" He dove to the side, narrowly avoiding a punch from a naked Mirio.
"Tannin!"
Unfortunately, Mirio was way ahead of them and before they could even blink, Tannin was laid out on the ground, clutching his sternum.
Seeming to realize that Vincent was capable of dodging, Mirio changed priorities and went straight for the ranged and support students. The melee fighters rushed in to try and help, all but one.
Karkinos stood back, watching the action unfold. The once vicious and bloodthirsty monster calmly stood with a hand to its chin.
Kaito hadn't gotten a good look at it the other day, but now he could see just how much it had changed. The once elongated neck had shortened to normal human length and its body had considerably shrunk. Now it looked more human than before.
"Shouldn't we help them?"
"Hmm, there is no risk of them dying, so I believe it is a perfect opportunity to observe him," He replied out loud, "And perhaps, we can gain a better understanding of what we have become." A toothy grin eclipsed his face.
Class C struggled desperately to fend off the top UA student. None of their attacks hit him and he could breach all of their defenses with ease. Within seconds, Nikiya, Wilhelm, Will, Tannin, Ryouji, Aika, and Sen were laying on the ground, moaning in pain.
"POWERRR!"
All that was left were the melee fighters. Kenichi, Vincent, Okami, and Daidoji were the only ones who really stood a chance. Kaito was down first, then Hirose.
Then, suddenly, without warning, the blond powerhouse popped up behind Karkinos, as nude as the day he was born.
"Hmm, a nonlethal strike? Then I'll go for his arms."
Karkinos's tail whipped around in a hypnotic pattern in an attempt to confuse their upperclassman before stabbing right at his left arm. It went straight through, leaving their opponent untouched.
"Run!" Shizuku shouted in her thoughts.
But Karkinos didn't budge, "No, we'll harden. He has to be tangible when he's attacking us."
Unfortunately, their disagreement resulted in a stalemate that froze the two in place, unable to activate their shapeshifting and incapable of dodging the punch the slammed into the monster's solar plexus, collapsing them with little effort.
"Dammit!" Kenichi spun around as fast as he could, but with the Medusa's armor covering him, he was slower than normal. That's the reason he didn't even see Mirio punch him.
"Hehe, it doesn't matter how much you layer on that armor, there's always going to be a sliver of distance between it and your skin!"
In the end, Vincent lasted the longest, but his stamina was no match for the older, more experienced, and untouchable student.
Mirio finished it with his signature yell before pausing for a pose.
"So, what did you guys think of my Quirk?!" But the question went unanswered, most of the class was still on the floor groaning in agony.
"You have to at least give them a chance to recover Mirio."
"Haha! Right…" He chuckled awkwardly before saying, "Um, are you guys ok?"
MHA: 1-C
"You think UA sent him to us just to make sure we didn't complain?" Ashira asked.
"For once, I wished they left us out," Kenichi complained as he nursed his wound.
"Yeah," Ryouji started, "All he did was beat us up and then tell us that a work study was the reason for his improvement. Like, no shit dude."
"Not like we'll even be able to take advantage of em' anyways."
Sen bit her lip at Daidoji's whinging, "Um, actually, I got a work study."
The entire table directed their attention to her all at once, "What?!"
"Who?"
"Where?"
"How?!"
Sen leaned back, her fairy wings slightly fluttering, "It's my aunt!" She cried out.
"Oh that's right! I forgot your aunt was a hero!"
"It's the same with Dai right?" Shizuku asked, "Did you not ask them about it?"
The spider girl paused for a second, "N-No, I kinda wanted to find a study by myself."
"But why? Wouldn't your parents be a perfect option for this sort of thing?"
"W-Well, I mean, they've already taught me plenty. I want to try and learn from someone else now."
"Makes sense," Sen said, "I haven't really-"
She was cut off by the ringing of Shizuku's phone. She apologized and went to take it, her eyes widening as she saw the caller ID. "Endo?!" She let out an involuntary sigh, "I swear to god, you're going to have to take a lot of time off with me to make up for what you-" Her eyes got even wider as chatter could be heard on the other end, "You found a what? On the asteroid? Quarantine? Well… I guess that makes a lot of sense. It's dead though right?" Shizuku nodded frantically, "Alright alright, I'll meet them out front right now." She hung up and looked over at her very curious friends, "I'm sorry, but I've gotta go."
"What about school? Midnight's gonna be pissed if you miss class."
"Principal Nezu owes Endo a favor apparently!" She yelled over her shoulder as she sprinted out of the lunch hall.
"She's just gonna leave like that without even saying what the hell she was talking about?!" Ryouji said, his mouth twisted into a heavy scowl.
Shinbou shook her head with a dejected sigh, "Those two… odd as always."
MHA: 1-C
"Ugh… I can't believe I got stuck at the library so late," Daidoji said to no one in particular as she marched her weary feet back to the dorms.
"Yeah I can't believe it either," A tan woman with bunny ears stood by the gate to her dorms, "Especially since you had the number six pro hero waiting for you."
Daidoji was frozen in shock, her mandibles clicking, "I-It's you…"
Miruko sighed, "I prefer my actual name."
"W-What are you doing here?"
"And that stutter too, get rid of that."
"Sorry… I was just shocked to see you waiting here for me."
Miruko grunted in response, her bunny ears twitching, "Imma get down to business, I want you to do a work study with me."
"But… why me?" Daidoji asked, her eyes aimed at the ground, "Wouldn't you want someone stronger, like Shizuku or Okami?"
"I'm not taking you because you're stronger than them," She spat, "I'm taking you because you're weaker."
"Huh?"
"Instead of letting them take my kicks and deal with the consequences themselves, you crippled yourself by shielding them. It's disgusting." Miruko strutted over to her, looking down on the teen, "You let your teammates rely on your strength to save them from a weak kick." Daidoji looked down at her hands, remembering the intense pain that her "weak" kick had caused, "I'm not the sentimental type, but I'm smart enough to know that when people do that sorta shit, it's cause something's eating em' up inside." She leaned in close, her nose twitching, "So, what did you fuck up?"
"I was too weak to protect them once already… so I just wanted to…"
"They're heroes, they should be strong enough to protect themselves." Miruko groaned when she saw Daidoji still had the same guilty look on her face so she said, "Look, I'm not a therapist, so I'm not going to try and fix that mess," She pulled a card from her pocket, "But… I dislike seeing you waste your strength in such a way. Call me. Or don't. But if you continue to let your fear consume you, you'll be the worst hero you can be." Without another word from either party, Miruko walked off, a faint bounce in her step.
MHA: 1-C
I know I know, it's another really short chapter, but since we're putting them out so regularly, I figured there's nothing wrong with ending it in a satisfying way, even if it is short. Regardless, the work studies arc is just about to begin and do we have some things planned for this bad boy! For those interested in Shizuku's panicked phone call, go check out Saturn Six on my profile (Project Armament) I plan on updating it soon to keep in line with the timeline. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! If you're interested in seeing our discussions or just to have fun with us, make sure to follow this link to our discord server /DeFqz5F
