We're up and out by 5:30 the next morning. The class stumbles out to group in front of Aizawa in front of the accommodation and office.
"This trips mission is to strengthen your quirks. Bakugo-kun, try throwing this softball," Aizawa instructs, tossing Bakugo the softball. It's the same deal as the quirk assessments.
"DIE!" Bakugo shouts as he belts out an explosion. The ball flies. Aizawa holds out the score on his device: 709 meters.
"Eh.. isn't that only like 3 meters more than last time?" I ask. Bakugo stares at his hand, surprised at his lack of improvement.
"Yeah," he murmurs.
"The last few months you have all grown emotionally and improved your heroic skills. But this training camp will focus primarily on improving your quirks," Aizawa explains. The class listens carefully.
"I'll be pushing you beyond your limits so get ready," he says. We're divided into groups to train our Quirks. Along with Aizawa, Mandalei and Pixiebob there's also two new heroes who've joined us. Ones a large man who goes by the bone Tiger. The other is a cute green haired woman called Ragdoll.
We're being grouped based on how we can best improve our quirks. I watch Kirishima get paired with Ojiro who are instructed to spar. Ojiro has to repeatedly smash his tail into Kirishima's hardened body.
Others, such as Bakugo and Todoroki are training by themselves. Bakugo is instructed to repeatedly put his hands in a vat of hot water to expand his sweat glands, allowing him to release larger explosions.
I get paired with Toru. The green haired hero Ragdoll approaches us.
"Hey guys, I'm Ragdoll. I'll be keeping an eye on you today," she says. Toru and I bow.
"Thanks for having us," we say in unison.
"Now both of your quirks are reliant on stealth. I'd like you to spar with each other," Ragdoll says. I grin. Toru squeaks nervously.
"Nakashima-chan while sparring I want you to switch between presence erasure and presence expansion as quickly as possible. Toru, take off your clothes so that you're completely invisible," Ragdoll instructs.
"Uh. How will you monitor us if Toru-chan is completely invisible," I ask as Toru undresses.
"Oh, my quirk is Search. I can observe and monitor up to 100 people at once," she explains. I laugh dryly.
"Wow, you're like our natural born enemy," I say. Ragdoll grins and nods at us.
Toru and I begin sparring. I flicker between increasing and decreasing my presence. I listen carefully for Toru. At first it's difficult. There's a lot of noise from our classmates nearby and it's hard to keep track of her. I start on the defensive. She lands a few punches. Geez, it's easy to forget since she can be kind of ditzy at times but Toru is actually an adept fighter. With the added difficulty of focusing on my quirk activation I have to be careful.
Soon, however, I get into the rhythm. And although she's got a pretty solid fighting technique there's not much weight behind her punches. I start predicting her movements. I begin to get used to the switching between my presence erasure and expansion. I get to a point where I can move on the offensive. Soon, time and time again I begin to catch her punches, twisting her arm behind her and winning. I grin. This had been a solid challenge.
"Speed up that switching Nakashima-chan!" Ragdoll calls out.
"Sure thing!" I say. However in sync with my quickened switching I find myself also quickening my movements. I start to consistently overpower Toru over again and again.
"Alright Nakashima-chan, Toru-chan, we're changing things up," Aizawa calls our after sometime. I have Toru on the ground, my knee in her back. Her breathing's ragged. I stand up.
"Sorry Nakashima-chan," Toru says between breaths. "I just can't keep up."
"Oh. Ah... don't worry about it. I'm sorry," I say. I hold my hand out, helping her up.
Ragdoll took Toru elsewhere. I slip off my sports jacket and stretch out my back and arms.
"Nakashima-chan, you'll spar with me instead," Aizawa says. I feel myself shiver.
"For real?" I ask nervously. I'm immediately forced to dodge an attack from him.
"Keep up the switching," he says. I twirl out of the way. I'm back on the defensive. I flicker between my quirks states. Aizawa was terrifying to fight. I was very much back on the defensive.
He overpowers dozens of times. I'm getting tired. My switching begins to waiver. Additionally, Aizawa has been baiting me for the last half hour and I'm getting frustrated.
"Don't even think about slowing down, Nakashima-chan," Aizawa says flatly. I scowl. I've been going at this all day with hardly a break. Aizawa lunges forward. Then something unexpected happened.
Truth be told, I'm not exactly sure how it occurred but for the only time today I found an opening in Aizawa's attack. His swing was higher than usual. I ducked low, sliding behind him. I grab his sleeve as I do so, pulling his arm around with me. His eyes widen, his quirk activating by reflex but it's useless. I'm not reliant on my quirk for this. I spin around, kicking him in the back of his knees as I pull his arm to his back. He falls forward. I place my foot firmly on his back. At the end of the day Aizawa's quirk doesn't have a direct impact on his his physical strength and technique so I am better matched in fighting him than what I would be if I were say fighting someone like Midoriya.
"I think you're the one slowing down," I say grinning, revelling in what was likely to be my first and only win against Aizawa. Ojiro and Kirishima who were fighting nearby stop.
"No way," Ojiro mutters. I stand back, catching my breath. Aizawa stands up, his expression as blank as ever. I stood with my chest puffed out proudly.
"Switch faster," he instructed, not acknowledging that I'd just totally won. I frown but do as he says. As it happens I don't land a single win for the rest of the day, let alone win a fight.
Ah... so he had been going easy on me after all.
The evening is soon upon us. We collectively stumble to the outdoor picnic area. There's a series of tables and chairs. Along the edge there are facilities for outdoor cooking.
"Sorry guys, you'll need to cook for yourselves tonight," Pixie-bob declares. I sigh. I really can't be fucked but I guess I'll have to. Iida rubs his chin.
"I suppose in the event of an emergency feeding the hungry would be a part of providing aid," he reasons. This seems to fire everyone up. I grin. Iida is good for this kind of stuff.
We get started with the cooking. I lay down some wood to start a fire. Now only if I had a lighter... I look around me, my eyes landing on Bakugo. I stand up grinning and walk over to where he was slicing some vegetables with Kirishima. I swing an arm around his shoulder. I'm a fair bit shorter than him so doing so pulls him down low. He scowls.
"Yo, Bakugo-kun. I need some help," I say.
"Get off me," he growls. I grin.
"Come on dude, I just need a fire started," I say. He tries to elbow me in the stomach but I jump back before he makes contact.
"Piss off," he yells. I latch back onto his arm, attempting to pull him along with me.
"It'll take like 3 seconds," I say. He digs his feet into the ground. Todoroki walks past with Mina. He notices the commotion.
"I can help soon, Nakashima-chan," he says. I let go of Bakugo.
"Thanks Todoroki-kun, you're much more reliable anyway," I say, knowing this would bait the explosive boy. It proved successful as at that comment Bakugo pushes past me. He sets of a larger than necessary explosion on the wood pile. It spreads the wood out but does start the fire nonetheless.
"There! It's fucking done," he growls. Kirishima laughs nervously. I roll my eyes.
"Thanks Bakugo-kun. I appreciate your help," I say. Bakugo goes back to furiously cutting vegetables.
Once everything is cooked we sit the pots of curry and rice in the middle of each table. I sit down in between Mina and Bakugo. Bakugo who is on the end is too far away from the pots to reach. I load up a plate of rice and curry and pass it over to him.
"Is this enough Bakugo-kun?" I say. He looks at me, surprise by the offer.
"Yeah," he says, taking the plate from me. I smirk. Of course there's no semblance of a 'thank you' but that wouldn't be his style.
"Haruki-chan, serve some for me too," Kaminari asks from across the table. Before I get there Kirishima hands him a plate.
"Ehh I wanted Haruki-chan to give it to me," he says. I rolled my eyes.
"I'm sure the plate Kirishima-kun gave you is just as nice," I reply amused.
"I wanted your woman's touch," he whines. I laugh, sitting myself down in front of my own plate.
"You know I don't think anyone's ever described me as having a woman's touch before," I reply. Mina snorts.
"I can believe that," she teases. We dig into our food.
"Speaking of which, your fight with Aizawa-sensei was really 'manly' today Haruki-chan," Kirishima says between mouth fulls.
"Ehh, I thought you were fighting Toru-chan?" Mina asks. Bakugo 'tch's.
"Mm, Ragdoll switched her out," I say. I scoop more food into my mouth.
"That's no surprise," Bakugo grunts. I smirk.
"Was that a compliment Bakugo-kun?" I tease. He scowls.
"I'm just stating the obvious, fuckhead." He says. He shoves another spoonful of curry into his mouth.
"For real, Haruki-chan totally won a fight against him," Kirishima says.
"No way!" Mina exclaims.
"It's not actually that big of a deal. It was one out of like 300 fights and he was definitely going easy on me," I say.
We chat happily for the rest of dinner. At one point, I notice Midoriya heading out into the forest alone. I watch him curiously.
I pull out my phone. It looks like I do have some reception here.
Me: I saw you head into the forest. What are you up to?
I place my phone on the table as we continue to chat. Bakugo scowls, his eyes briefly scanning over the contact ID. After a few moments my phone buzzes. I pick it up.
Midoriya: Just taking some food to Kota-kun. I'm worried for him but he doesn't want to talk to me.
Me: Don't let it get you down. He might need to get through things in his own time.
I hit send. I smile. Midoriya is such a caring guy. Completely and unnecessarily meddlesome but kind all the same.
I see Bakugo furiously eating in my periphery. Despite being childhood friends I don't think those two could be more different.
—-
The 3rd day of training is as tiring as the 2nd. Aizawa decides it would be unproductive to keep up my switching so I'm made to stand on hill away from the group and expand my presence as much as I can.
While I do this I try something a little different to usual. Previously I've used my quirk in three ways: presence erasure, presence expansion and total fear where I replace all aspects of my presence with fear. But theoretically speaking, I'm not limited to these three activations. If I can activate a fearful presence then why not another type?
It's tricky. It's making the abstract tangible. I kind of have to understand the feeling I want to portray and then put that together with my quirk. The easiest way to do this is to manufacture a real experience, or person. Who is someone I can replicate? Who is someone with a lot of natural presence?
An obvious answer comes to mind. All Might.
First, I focus on establishing reach. Typically I do this subconsciously. If I had to compare the experience to anything it's kind of like walking. You're not born being able to walk but it's something you don't think about. I have a "resting" range of about 50 meters. I can't really pull it in smaller than that . But with a lot of focus I can expand it. It's kind of a weird sensation. Kind of feels staticky when forcing it. I reckon with some focus I can push it out to 60 meters.
Next component is manufacturing the demeanour. What do I feel when I look at All Might? To say that it's a feeling of safety isn't right. It's bigger than that. It has an impact like intimidation which is something I use in manufacturing fear but the affect of All Might isn't like that.
I think I need to manifest a sense of confidence, inspiration and devotion. I guess to put it simply what All Might has his an overwhelming charisma. I need to manufacture charisma. I close my eyes.
"Alrighty, All Mighty. Let's try this," I murmur.
I feel the staticky feeling shift as I manufacture the copycat presence. I focus my breathing. It's uncomfortable at first. My heart thumps heavily. What do I call this presence? If I'm align it with total fear do I call this total Might?
'Nakashima-chan, good work but we'll need you to move further back. You're distracting the group,' I hear Mandalei's voice in my head. I shiver at the sudden intrusion in my mind. I deactivated my quirk. 'Move back another 50 meters or so to be safe. Ragdoll will monitor you.'
I look down to the group below. At the edge of the group several of the members across both class 1A and 1B are looking up towards me. I spot Mandalei. I wave to indicate I understood and moved back.
After 8 hours of training I'm exhausted. My head and heart is pounding from using my quirk in this new way. I feel kind of nauseous. I've never experienced anything like this from my quirk before. I trod back to the group. Immediately we're redirected to the picnic area to make our dinner.
I recoil at the thought of eating but I don't really want to let my class down. I get started at cutting vegetables. The cuts are lazy and inconsistent. It's just a stew though so who fucking cares right?
Bakugo approaches with a box of more vegetables, placing them on the counter next to me. He watches me cut them.
"What the fuck is with these mangled vegetables," he growls. I sigh. My head is throbbing. I'm not in the mood for his explosive tendencies tonight.
"They're fine dude. Don't worry about it," I reply flatly. Bakugo watches me. I continue cutting, feeling a little bit self conscious.
After a few minutes of this Bakugo reaches down, placing his calloused hand over mine on the knife, stopping me from cutting further. I look up at him frowning.
"You're fucking shit at this and it's pissing me off. I'll cut them properly. You sit down and peel these or whatever. I don't fucking care," he says sharply. I pass the knife to him and he picks up where I left off but with notably faster and more consistent cuts. He looks focussed but not angry. I take the box of vegetables to a nearby table and sit down. I start peeling.
"Ehh, you're really skilled at using a knife Bakugo-kun," Uraraka says surprised as she walks past Bakugo.
"Of course I am," he replied gruffly. He looked displeased with her tone.
"That's Bakugo-kun for you. Good at everything," I say, smirking. I drop my expression quickly though. My head feels like it's spinning. I really over did it today.
"Damn right," he replies lowly.
I finish up peeling the vegetables and carry them back over to the bench where Bakugo is cutting. I place the box down next to him.
"I'll go find another knife and help you finish up," I say, turning away. He grabs the sleeve of my jacket before I walk away.
"Don't bother," he replies. I look back at him curiously.
"I don't want to eat your wonky ass vegetables... And you look like shit. Just go sit down or something," he says. I smile softly. He lets go of my sleeve. Bakugo really can be kind of nice sometimes in his own way.
"Okay. Thank you," I say.
I sit back down at the table. I fold my arms in front of myself on the table and rest my head on them. I listen to the sound of Bakugo chopping the vegetables. My headache begins to subside but it's certainly still mostly present. I hear footsteps approach and a hand on my shoulder.
"Nakashima-chan, are you okay?" I hear Midoriya's voice say.
I rotate my head to the side to look up at my green haired friend. He looks at me with concern. I really like Midoriya but I hate the part of him that makes him looks at me like I'm weak.
"Mm. Just resting. Bakugo-kun kicked me off knife duty," I murmur. Bakugo's posture shifts. Midoriya places his hand on my forehead, frowning.
"You've got a fever," he says. He slides into the spot next to me.
"Yeah I think it's from overusing my quirk," I reply softly. Todoroki arrives at the bench next to Bakugo. He piles the vegetables into a pot.
"I felt that today! Were you trying to copy All Might?" Midoriya asks. I grin and gently push myself so I'm sitting up straight. I rub my temples.
"I sure was. It makes me happy to hear you ask that," I reply. Todoroki pauses next to us as he walks with the filled pot.
"Speaking of All Might, you were asking after him today, Midoriya-kun?" Todoroki questioned. Midoriya frowned.
"Yeah, I had a question about what to say to Kota-kun. That boy hates heroes... no it's more like he hates quirks. I feel like All Might would know what to say," Midoriya explained, resting his chin in his hand.
"Ahh, Kota's the boy right?" Todoroki replied. Bakugo finished cutting the vegetables and stormed away, murmuring something about 'that bastard deku', evidently disliking the conversation.
"Yeah. What would you say to him Todoroki-kun, Nakashima-chan?" Midoriya asks.
"To be honest I don't think there's much you can say," I reply. Todoroki nods.
"For a complete stranger to shove his opinion on him... It's kind of pretentious. I think actions speak louder than words, you know?" Todoroki explains.
"You've got a pretty meddlesome personality, you know that Midoriya-kun?" I say smiling. Midoriya laughs nervously.
By the time dinner is served I'm feeling a bit better. I eat a small serving. Enough to get by on. We rest for a while, get changed and then head out for the nights activities.
We gather near a walking circuit that travels through the forest with the Pussycats. They explain that we're doing a test of courage! Class 1B will spread out around the track to try scaring us. I start to get kind of pumped. Truth is I've never had a chance to participate in any of these kinds of events. We had a camp in middle school but I ended up getting suspended before having a chance to go.
It's explained that we'll go around the course in pairs. We draw sticks. I pull out one with the number 8. I end up getting paired with Midoriya. I walk over to him.
"It looks like we'll be going together Midoriya-kun!" I say swinging my arm around his shoulder. "Don't worry about getting scared. I'll totally be brave for both of us."
"I'll be f-fine Nakashima-chan," he stutters, his face flushing at the close contact. I chuckle. I watch the other groups get together. To my amusement Bakugo and Todoroki are paired. Bakugo is fuming. It's no secret that he dislikes Todoroki greatly.
The pussycats start sending pairs into the forest. Soon it's just me, Midoriya, Iida, Koda, Ojiro and Mineta left. I hang out chatting with the boys and cat heroes until we start to notice a smokey smell. The large Pussycat hero Tiger looks around us, searching for the source.
"What is that? A fire?" I ask looking to the forest. A faint glow can be seen in the distance.
Suddenly from the trees a lizard villain erupts with a large lipped villain at his side. He slams a large poll into Pixiebobs head, knocking her unconscious immediately. I jump back, activating my quirk to erase my presence. Midoriya cries out.
The hero Tiger, forces the five boys behind him and looks around frantically for me. I move over to him, placing my hand on his back.
"I'm here," I say. He focuses on the villains. Who the fuck are these guys. League of Villains?
Mandalei sends out a message to everyone to declare the villains arrival. She instructs Iida to take charge and direct us away to the centre. I begin to follow but Midoriya stands still.
"I know where Kota-kun is. I'm finding him," he says to Mandalei. Before we have the chance to tell him to keep still he's sprinted off with the power of his quirk. I clench my fists.
"Fucking dipshit," I spat. I pull the ends of my braids in frustration. I switch between looking in the direction Midoriya ran and at Iida who is trying to usher me away. Pixiebob is lying unresponsive on the ground while Tiger and Mandalei are fending off the two villains. No one knows where Midoriya is going.
"Nakashima-kun don't even think about it," Iida says sternly. I groan.
"Sorry Iida-kun. You know I don't follow rules well," I say. I activate my quirk and sprint after Midoriya. Iida calls out behind me but I ignore him.
Midoriya is strong but I can't leave that idiot by himself. He's fast and already some distance away but I'll catch up eventually. I see evidence of his footsteps in the foliage. Where the fuck is he headed?!
In the distance I see a huge rock. That must be it. I pick up the pace, following the trail around and up the rock. When I reach the top my heart stops. In front of me is Kota. He's staring straight ahead to my left where a huge villain covered in muscle fibres is fighting none other than Midoriya.
Midoriya is already beat up badly. His arms are injured, probably broken. The villain swings, knocking him back into the side of the rock. The villain begins to ascend on Kota. I move before I can think, dashing out, wrapping my arms around Kota as I do. I roll us out of the way. I nearly don't make it but at the last moment Midoriya punches the muscle villain, his arm locking in the muscle fibres. Kota and I cry out in shock.
"Nakashima-chan!" Midoriya cries. I hold Kota in my arms, leaping back out of the way. It's a horrible fight. I look for openings. I need to get them out of here or this guys going to kill us all, starting with Midoriya. Midoriya lands a huge punch onto the villain but shatters his arms in the process. I dodge the debris with Kota in my arms. The dust settles and I scan for Midoriya.
I see him collapsed on his knees. He's not dead, thank fuck. The villains out of sight. I put Kota down and run forward. I wrap an arm around Midoriya's waist, helping him up.
"Midoriya-kun, you're a fucking idiot, you know?" I say. Kota steps over to us.
"W-why would you guys protect me like that, risk your lives?" He says, voice trembling.
Before we have a chance to respond we hear shifting in the rocks nearby. No way... he's still alive? The muscle villain emerges.
"Not bad," he says in a gravely voice. He launches toward us. I grab the boys and pull them of the way. We fall off the edge of the rock. Midoriya activates his quirk mid air pulling us along with him. The worst if the fall is avoided but we still land harshly. I wrap my arms around Kota as we roll.
"Nakashima-chan, get Kota-kun out of here," Midoriya instructs. I can see the resolve in his eyes. I don't like it. He's gonna kill himself.
"Y-your arms are broken. What can you do?" Kota cries. The villain launches forward. I pull Kota away in my arms as Midoriya defends, rolling us to cover behind a boulder. I can't leave him behind. I have to escape with both him and Kota.
The villain pounds Midoriya into the ground. Fuck. I feel bile rise in my throat. My eyes sting with tears but I don't let them breach. Kota sobs into my arm. Fuck, what am I supposed to do? This villain is insane. He's killing Midoriya. And if Midoriya can't fight him then how can I? Midoriya is crushed further and further into the ground. I'm frozen on the spot. He's really gonna die. I'm going to watch Midoriya get smashed to pieces.
"St-stop it!" Kota shouts. I look down at the tremblingly boy. Seeing his desperate expression I'm pulled into action. I leap out of our cover. I activate my quirk. Kota, Midoriya and the villains eyes land on me. I'm not sure what my plan is but at the immediate moment I need to distract this guy before he kills Midoriya.
"Nakashima..." Midoriya chokes out.
"I'm asking a lot Midoriya-kun but don't you dare fucking die!" I shout. I activate my total Might presence, breathing deeply. My head and chest pound heavily.
At that moment I see a rippling effect. Midoriya, despite his broken arms, sends the muscle villain flying backwards. I gasp. What insane power.
The villain crashes into the rock wall. Blood sprays from Midoriya's arms. I raise a hand over my mouth and deactivate my quirk. I run to Midoriya, catching him as he starts to fall. He stays on his feet, using me as his support. Kota is not far behind me, sobbing.
"I can't rest. They're after Kacchan," he says breathlessly. I look back at Kota. We need to get him back to the office.
"What do you mean?" I ask. Midoriya pulls away, managing to stand on his own two feet.
"They said they're after Kacchan. I think they want to abduct him," he says. I pull on my braids.
"Can you still use your quirk?" I ask anxiously.
"Yeah," he says. I turn to Kota.
"Run with Kota-kun to the office, spread the message and get treated. You'll both be safer that way. I'm going to find Bakugo-kun before he does something stupid," I instruct. I stretch out my arms. All things considered, I'm relatively uninjured. I can still fight.
"Okay but I'm not resting until everyone is safe. I'm fast. Once I take Kota back I'll find Mandalei," he says. I scowl.
"Fine but don't fucking think about fighting anymore. You're fuelled solely on adrenaline right now. I'll tell Mandalei what's happening if I find her," I hiss. His eyes shown with determination. I sigh.
"Just don't fucking die. That's all I ask," I say. Kota grabs onto Midoriya's back. The pair launch away. His speed is amazing.
I run down the rock. I have to make my way back to the track. If I make my way around it I should run into Bakugo eventually. I clench my fists as I run. Why would they be after him?
After some time, I get to a section of track. I need to make a decision on which way I run. I choose right.
'Attention UA students, you are authorised to engage in combat... we've identified one of the Villain's objectives ... the student Kacchan. You got that? The student Kacchan should avoid combat,' Mandalei's voice rings in my head.
Shit, Midoriya wastes no time. I can't believe he's already managed to get the message out already. I pick up the pace. I listen out for explosions. The smell of fire is getting stronger.
Up ahead I hear voices I don't recognise. I stand in a defensive position, getting ready to fight.
"Nakashima-chan..." I hear a whisper just behind me to my left. Standing there, trembling, is Aoyama. The voices get closer. I dash towards him. He pulls me behind a bush. Lying there is Toru and Kyoka, their faces are covered by gas masks. I raise I finger to my mouth.
"Quiet," I sat in a hushed tone. He nods. I peer just above the bush. My eyes widen.
Walking past us is a masked man and a familiar face... the staple faced man. I blink several times. I feel the blood drain from my face. No way. It can't be. That was a random encounter in an alley. There's no way he's here! The smell of smoke is strong through. There's definitely a fire. I think back to the time I met the staple faced man in the alley. He possesses a fire quirk. A strong one at that.
I pull the end of my braids anxiously. Aoyama trembles next to me, his knees pulled close to his chest. The two girls look stable, their chests rising and falling with each breath. I watch the staple faced man and the masked guy leave.
"I'm following them," I say quietly. Aoyama grabs my arm, shaking his head. I pull away. "Look after Kyoka-chan and Toru-chan. I'll be okay."
I stalk the villains. It sounds like they're trying to regroup. Does that mean they caught Bakugo? I grit my teeth. I've been fucking useless. I hear a commotion up ahead. I weave amongst the trees to get a better look. It looks like there's a clearing.
My heart races as I get a view of what's happening. Shoji and Todoroki are engaging in a fight with a villain who looks to be a magician. Midoriya is swaying on his feet behind them. I watch the staple faced man and the masked man step out.
"Did you get Bakugo?" Staple face asks the magician.
"Of course!" The magician says. My eyes scan for Bakugo but I can't see him. Where is he?
"Both of you run," Shoji shouts. He holds out two blue orbs in one of his hands. "In your right pocket... this is Tokayami-kun and Bakugo-kun right?"
Those orbs... they contain Bakugo and Tokoyami? I don't really get it. It must be some sort of capturing quirk. A black mist appears behind the villains.
The staple face man frowns at the magician villain.
"You idiot..." he growls. The magician smiles though.
"Worry not... you see as a magician I have a habit," he says. He opens his mouth revealing two extra orbs. My chest tightens. "You see, I prepared some extras... I placed those in my pocket."
The orbs in Shoji's hands transform abruptly into two ice blocks. The magician laughs. I crouch down to get ready to launch myself.
"... it's called misdirection," he says smirking.