Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
A couple that will go down in legend
Chapter thirty-five: The exhibition battles mini-arc, part two
Shota Aizawa was surprised when Emi Fukukado, also known as the Smile Hero: Ms. Joke and one of the teachers at Ketsubutsu Academy High School, told him that the school she taught at was going to have some sort of exhibition event of some sort. Emi eagerly invited him to come and watch, saying that the event was the perfect way for Ketsubutsu to show off how well it had recovered after the damage done during the monster siege from a while ago had been repaired.
"So Joke," Aizawa began in a gruff tone as he turned to face Emi, "Care to tell me what sort of exhibition event this is?"
The Smile Hero turned to face her underground counterpart, a look of amusement on her face. "Oh, some party visiting Japan from a high school over in the United States came here on something of a tour of Japan's hero high schools." Ms. Joke turned her attention to look down into the arena where the exhibition battle was about to start. "When that Mrs. Butterbean lady mentioned that her school's team was here to have a go at some of the students from your school, the principal here decided to challenge her students, figuring that Ketsubutsu would look good if its students could beat a team set up to take out whatever team your school throws against them."
The underground hero turned to face Emi, a look of shocked surprise on his face. It was rare to see Aizawa's stoic expression ever break, especially in such a manner that made it clear he was alarmed. As such, Emi arched a curious eyebrow as she regarded the man that she was crushing on. "…Is something the matter, Aizawa?"
"A team of brats representing Ketsubutsu is about to face the team from Royal Woods High?" Aizawa asked, looking a bit surprised. Just then, before Emi could answer Aizawa's question, he turned to look down into the arena. "I can't believe that I'm actually saying this, but thanks for asking me to meet with you here."
Ms. Joke could not help but let out an excited school girl's squeal; after all, Shota Aizawa had just thanked her for asking him to meet with her. Following his gaze, Emi's own soon returned to the arena where the exhibition battle was about to take place. "The others and I at U.A. have no idea about any of the students on the Royal Woods High team, so me getting to watch this exhibition battle will prove to be an invaluable information-gathering experience."
"Ah, so that's what it is, mmm?" Emi remarked, a hint of knowing amusement in her tone, "You want to see what your brats will be facing ahead of time so you can warn them about what all to expect when their time to fight Royal Woods High comes up." Nodding once, Emi said, "I know that underground types such as you like being able to gather intel, so I figured that would give me enough pull to get you to-"
Emi stopped short when she heard something smack onto the floor of the stands that she sat in with Aizawa. Turning to regard the underground hero, Emi saw that there was a look of shocked worry on his face, the second time his normally stoic expression had been broken thus far today. Looking down, Emi saw a small, thick spiral bound notebook with a pen tucked into the rings that bound the thing together. Reaching down, Emi picked up the dropped item and tried handing it to Aizawa, but he made no movement to take it back, as he was still looking down into the arena, specifically at the lone teen girl that stood down there.
The teen girl had a sort of pale gray skin, the bangs of her hair covering one of her eyes while leaving the other one exposed, showing off its vibrant burgundy color. The rest of the girl's hair, long and black, was bound in a single braided ponytail that trailed down over her back. For her hero outfit, the lone teen girl wore a black sleeveless top that resembled the hide shirts worn by Native American people in older times, a skirt that matched the shirt, black and white stripped arm warmers that went from her wrists to halfway up her biceps, a pair of sturdy, durable-looking pair of black, fringed moccasin boots that reached about halfway up her shins, and she wore a headband with traditional Native American patterns.
A single black feather, about half a foot long, hung from the headband on the same side of the girl's head as her eye which was not obscured by her bangs. Furthermore, the girl carried with her a long staff that, from a distance, looked like a simple, unadorned number, but closer looks showed that its detailing made it clear it was of Native American make. The teen girl stood in the arena of Ketsubutsu's stadium alone, looking straight towards the far opposite end, where those she was expecting to go up against would come out of from a pair of double doors.
"You…you cannot be serious…" Aizawa said, looking down as he saw the lone teen girl. The underground hero gently shook his head a bit before he went back to looking down where that lone teen girl stood. "They…they brought her," Aizawa remarked, "Royal Woods High actually brought her. Visionquest is part of the Royal Woods High team." To Emi's complete surprise, she actually heard Aizawa gulp in a manner that made it clear to her that the man she was smitten with was actually afraid. "My worst worries have come true. My paranoia that led to me voting to hire Pixie-Bob over Gang Orca had just been justified."
"You're…" Ms. Joke began as she regarded Aizawa, "…Spooked by that girl that takes a lot of fashion cues from Native?"
Aizawa turned to regard Emi, and the Smile Hero was a bit rattled to see that Aizawa looked as if he was afraid for someone's life. "Emi." Aizawa's tone made it clear that he was by no means in any mood for joking around. "How many of the students from the Royal Woods High team have you seen aside from Visionquest?"
Emi strained her memory to think about Aizawa's question, but she ended up gently shaking her head. "Sorry Shota, but that girl down there is the only member of the Royal Woods High team that I've seen so far. The others from her party that I've seen are that Mrs. Butterbean person who is the principal of the school, this one girl named Lori, and some boy who was identified as Lori's elementary school-aged brother Lincoln."
"Shit," Aizawa swore under his breath, wishing that Ms. Joke had seen more of the Royal Woods High team so that he had more of a clear idea what his school's brats could expect. Still, he was more than glad to learn ahead of time that Amy Ace, also known as Visionquest, was one of the ten students that U.A.'s team was set to face in the upcoming team battle event. He was even more glad to see that he was about to get an idea of just how powerful the earth attribute Sacred Heritage quirk user was, as a large force of Ketsubutsu students rushed her, including the second years Yo, Shikkui, Itejiro and Tatami, plus their skull-masked fellow, all leading the charge.
A cloak of earthen material, enveloped in a brilliant golden aura, completely enshrouded Amy's form the instant she saw the Ketsubutsu students all charge at her.
Over at U.A. High School, the Big Three were meeting with the combined fifty students of class 1-A and 1-B over in Gym Gamma, which was completely bare at the moment. The Big Three, with Nejire calling the shots, ended up picking the team of ten U.A. students that would take part in the upcoming team battle event against the team visiting from the American high school. In addition to Todoroki, Yaoyorozu, Juzo and Setsuna, who are the four first years that had all gotten into U.A. on recommendation, the U.A. team had Izuku, Shinso, Eunice, Kinoko, Kosei and Kurama; that gave the U.A. team the ten that they were going to be needing in order to counter the ten that Royal Woods High was going to be bringing to the table.
As the Big Three worked with the ten selected students that they had picked to be the team representing U.A., the other students in the 1-A and 1-B classes watched on with varying looks of various feelings. Bakugo, notably, looked very much annoyed that he had to sit out a chance to take part in one hell of a fight while 'both fucking Deku and fucking IcyHot' got to take all the action for themselves, even though the explosive teen was very clearly the hottest thing that 1-A had to offer.
"Why did even one of those 1-A cretins had to be on the team set to win glory for U.A. in the upcoming team battle?" Monoma asked from where he stood among the crowd of 1-A and 1-B students, "Surly any ten from 1-B would be-" The blonde boy of 1-B was cut off via a chop to the back of his head, courtesy of the oversized hand of Itsuka.
The class 1-B rep, with a disapproving scowl on her face, gave Monoma a serious look. "Nejire-sempai wanted there to be as much of an even mix of 1-A and 1-B students on the team," Itsuka said as he hand she struck Monoma with returned to normal size, "And I for one think that she's got the right idea."
Over where the Big Three were working with U.A.'s team of ten that would take part in the team battle event against the Royal Woods High team, Nejire clapped her hands together a few times, signaling for everyone to take a break. Mirio had his hands on his knees as he stood while slightly hunched over, trying to catch his breath; as for Tamaki, he fell over flat on his butt the moment Nejire called for a break.
And it wasn't just Suneater who fell onto his butt, either; all of the U.A. team aside from Izuku, Juzo and Todoroki all fell over onto their respective butts, breathing hard out of exhaustion, after Nejire had called for the break. "This is a bit insane," Setsuna called out from where she sat on the floor in Gym Gamma, "Don't you think, sempais?"
"We need to get you first years ready for whatever that high school visiting from the states may have to throw at you," Nejire explained, "As such, you all can expect to get more training in the days leading up to the team battle event than what you normally would have gotten over the rest of the current school-"
Nejire was cut off when the doors leading into Gym Gamma were thrown open rather loudly, making everyone turn to see Aizawa walk in, with a mildly cowed, mildly worried looking Hizashi walking in after him. The underground hero's own expression was a mix of being rattled, worried, a bit fearful, and downright infuriated. All of the students could see this, and they all couldn't help but wonder just what had happened to make Aizawa react so.
"Ah, Aizawa-sensei," Nejire greeted in a friendly tone, "Yeah, Mirio, Tamaki and I were just getting the team representing U.A. ready for the team battle event against the visiting team from that Royal Woods High place."
The underground hero arched a wry eyebrow as he looked at all of the exhausted first years. He looked at them like that for a few moments before he returned his attention to the lone girl member of the Big Three. "…So you three picked those ten?" Aizawa asked as he pointed to all of the exhausted first years.
Nejire nodded once in the affirmative, a look of assured confidence on her face. "Well since the opposing team is going to have ten, the boys and I figured that the team representing U.A. ought to have ten as well. We ended up creating a team consisting of the four recommended students, plus Izuku, Shinso and Eunice from 1-A and Komori, Kosei and Kurama from 1-B."
Aizawa looked to the exhausted first years once again before he returned his attention to Nejire, Tamaki and Mirio, the latter two walking over to join their friend. As Aizawa gave the third years a serious look, Hizashi came walking over and joined his fellow pro hero, the mildly cowed, mildly worried look never leaving the cockatiel-haired man's face. "Umm, Nejire, I'm pretty sure I speak for Aizawa here when I say the both of us think that you may want to come up with a different layout for the U.A. team."
"I even have an idea for the layout for the U.A. team in mind, if you want to hear it," Aizawa remarked, his tone dry as per usual but carrying hints that relate to his expression, which hadn't changed since he and Hizashi first walked into Gym Gamma.
Nejire, her interest piqued, replied, "Oh? What sort of team do you have in mind for U.A. in the upcoming team battle event, Aizawa-sensei?" The underground hero said nothing to the lone girl of the Big Three. Instead, Aizawa, without even looking, turned his body slightly so he could point to where all of the other students stood. What Aizawa said next surprised everyone.
"Every student in both my class and Sekijiro's class." Aizawa lowered his arm that he was using to point with, never taking his eyes off of the Big Three. "In addition to all three of you."
Tamaki, holding his hands up in a 'hold your horses' kind of gesture, turned to face the two pro heroes, getting their attention. "Let me get this straight, senseis. You want the team that U.A. will send into the team battle event against the Royal Woods High team to consist of all fifty-three of us students here in the gym?" Aizawa, the seriousness never leaving his expression, gave a single nod in the affirmative. Tamaki crossed his arms over his chest as he regarded the underground hero. "I'm sorry, but with all due respect don't you think that's overkill, considering that it will be fifty-three of us versus just ten of them? We'll outnumber them a little more than five to one."
"What Aizawa had just discovered about the Royal Woods High team tells us beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are the ones using overkill here, not us," Hizashi replied, still looking a mix of nervous and rattled.
The other students, having heard what Present Mic just said, came walking over to the teachers. "Umm, senseis," Tenya began, "But what exactly is it about the Royal Woods High team that has the two of you so spooked?"
Aizawa, letting out a resigned sigh, turned to face his homeroom class's rep. "…Earlier this morning, I was at Ketsubutsu, having been invited by Ms. Joke to watch an exhibition event where the Royal Woods High team faced off against a team representing Ketsubutsu. They had no idea I was there, so I was able to gather some intel on what sort of layout the Royal Woods High team has."
"Oh, so you have an idea about the ten students on the opposing team then kero," Tsuyu remarked, doing her finger tic as per usual as she spoke.
Aizawa gently shook his head in the negative. "It's not that simple, Asui. The exhibition team battle between the Royal Woods High team and Ketsubutsu's wasn't a ten versus ten affair." The underground hero took in a breath, held it a bit, and then released it in a sigh. "The battle saw one-hundred Ketsubutsu students take on just one student from the Royal Woods High team." What Aizawa said next shocked every student in Gym Gamma, first and third year alike.
"Not only that, but Ketsubutsu's team lost."
"There's no fucking way that one-hundred students could lose a fight where all of them fought a lone person all at once!" Bakugo practically exclaimed, his eyes wide with surprise, "You'd have to be at the level of fucking All Might when he was still a hero to pull off a stunt like that!"
Todoroki, from where he and the other students picked by the Big Three, walked over to speak with the senseis. "I'm going to have to agree with Bakugo on this one, senseis. I very highly doubt that even my father, who became the number one pro hero after All Might retired, could take on one-hundred opponents all at once and on his own and still come out as the victor of that engagement."
Pointing to Todoroki, Aizawa said, "You know how U.A. recently hired Mt. Lady, Ryukyu, Mirko and Pixie-Bob to the school staff, and how Pixie-Bob's hiring was decided on a vote where the others and I voted for either her or Gang Orca?" Todoroki, as well as a few other students, all nodded in the affirmative, showing that they understood what the underground hero was talking about.
"Yeah, listeners, here's the thing," Hizashi said, "The staff here and I had discussed a few points about the upcoming team battle event, which was set up before the school had to hire those extra four pro heroes. Aizawa here, who was paranoid about Royal Woods High bringing a certain someone as part of their school's team, voted for Pixie-Bob, even though he was hoping like hell that he was being paranoid for nothing, that his worrying wouldn't come to pass."
The students looked around, most of them with varying looks of worry on their respective faces. None of them said a single word for a few silent moments, until the silence was broken by Izuku, who turned to face the senseis, and spoke to his homeroom teacher.
"That girl with the earth-attribute Sacred Heritage quirk is part of the team representing Royal Woods High." Izuku looked at the shocked expressions of the two pro heroes, his own expression serious and showing that he wouldn't be having any attempt of them trying to pull the wool over his eyes. "Isn't she?"
Both Aizawa and Hizashi tensed up at Izuku's mentioning of Sacred Heritage quirks by name, with Hizashi even letting out a mildly panicked squeal. Both were fit to chew Izuku out for saying anything by name about Sacred Heritage quirks out loud, but they realized as they silently agreed with one another that, given the circumstances, there really wasn't much anyone could do about the matter.
The two teachers had all of the students in Gym Gamma gather around, with some of the exhausted students helped by those who weren't tired. Once everyone was gathered up and all standing together, Aizawa began to explain things to them. "Okay, everyone, listen up. What Hizashi and I are about to go over with you all typically is kept as classified information if we can manage it, but due to the circumstances, we have no other choice."
Aizawa and Hizashi had all fifty of the first years plus the Big Three follow them to the large classroom where the joint math exam was held. On the way there from Gym Gamma, the large party ran into Sekijiro who Aizawa, after harshly whispering something into his ear that made the Blood Hero go wide-eyed with shock, got to join the party and follow along with everyone else as they made their way to the aforementioned classroom.
Once everyone was there, the students all sat at the desks while the senseis went to the front of the classroom where the one big desk was located. Aizawa set something up with a laptop and his smartphone so that a video clip could be played on the smartboard located between two sections of chalkboard behind where the desk sat. Once things were up, Aizawa turned to face all fifty-three U.A. students in the classroom, a grim look on his face.
"The video clip I'm about to play was what I recorded while I was visiting Ketsubutsu at the invitation of Ms. Joke to watch the exhibition fight between her school's team of one-hundred and Visionquest of the Royal Woods High team," the underground hero explained, "Try not to get too rattled by what you all are about to see." Without further fanfare, Aizawa clicked a button with the laptop's mouse, thus starting the video clip that was recorded on his smartphone.
…
Not a single word came from any of the fifty-three U.A. students in the classroom as they watched the video of Amy Ace, also known as the Tribal Hero: Visionquest, take on a team made up of one-hundred Ketsubutsu students all at once and on her own in the exhibition match that was held over at Ketsubutsu. The first year students were having flashbacks to their brutal training under new U.A. teacher Pixie-Bob as they continued to watch the video clip that Aizawa had been lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time to record.
…However, it soon became very clear to the U.A. students that Amy could not only do every trick that Pixie-Bob could pull off but better, she also had a few tricks that the member of the Wild, Wild Pussycats could only dream of, chief among them being that golden earth cloak that made any and every attempt to do anything at all to Amy redundant. Seeing that cloak of Amy's that enshrouded her easily block any assault thrown her way made many of the first years realize why they weren't allowed to attack Pixie-Bob at all during the aforementioned training.
Near the end of the video clip, when Yo, Shikkui, Itejiro, Tatami, their skull-masked fellow and about seven other Ketsubutsu students were left, Amy used her quirk to trigger a massive earthquake that not only shook the entire battlefield, but at random spots on said battlefield blasts of earth energy burst out from the ground, with many of those bursts striking the remaining students on the Ketsubutsu team, knocking them out. Yo, the lone student remaining on his team by the time the earthquake had finished, was knocked out when Amy simply struck him upside the head with her staff.
When the video clip showed a teacher from Ketsubutsu declare Amy as the winner of the exhibition match, Aizawa paused the video clip, given that the students in the classroom had seen enough. The underground hero turned to face all fifty-three of them, giving the collective lot of them a serious look. "Now you brats in my class and in Sekijiro's class see why we've had you all spar with Pixie-Bob the way that we've had you all do."
"That girl…" Shinso began, his voice sounding calm but clearly holding back a brewing storm as he pointed to the smartboard screen where the video clip that was playing was paused, "…Who we just watched single-handedly take on and defeat one-hundred students at Ketsubutsu, is part of the Royal Woods High team that we'll be facing in the team battle event." The brainwasher lowered his arm that he was using to point at the smartboard screen with. "And the fifty-three of us here are expected to fight that monster."
"I understand your concerns, Shinso," Aizawa replied in a sympathetic tone to his foster son, "And believe you me, if I were in charge of running the hosting party for the team battle event instead of Nezu, then I would have surrendered the team battle to Royal Woods High the exact moment I saw that their team included a Sacred Heritage quirk user." Letting out a resigned sigh, the underground hero went on, "Unfortunately, Nezu's confidence in you brats is a double-edged sword in this case. Even when Hizashi and I presented him with the video clip that the two of us had just played for you all, he's insisting on going ahead with the team battle event."
Gesturing to the U.A. students, Sekijiro said, "But don't go letting this all send you kids into something of a panic. You all ought to be thankful that Aizawa here is a paranoid twat, and that his voting for hiring Pixie-Bob over Gang Orca has just been justified."
Aizawa, as well as Hizashi, nodded in agreement, with the former taking the time to speak. "Not only have we had you brats spar with someone with a quirk as close to Visionquest's as we can manage, but whereas the Ketsubutsu students went into their battle without any knowledge of who they were facing, you all know ahead of time what to expect. That advanced knowledge, plus the training you did under Pixie-Bob, will go a long way to helping you all figure out some method to potentially defeat Visionquest."
"And in regards to Aizawa here saying 'you all'," Hizashi spoke up as he stepped forward to stand between Aizawa and Sekijiro, "He was serious earlier when he said that the team that will be representing U.A. in the team battle event will consist of all fifty-three of you." Hizashi turned to face where the Big Three, who were all sitting together, were sitting in one of the rows located closest to the front of the classroom. "Nejire, I hope that you and the boys there can get all of your junior students here ready for the team battle event between U.A. and Royal Woods."
Nejire, whose normally perky expression had faltered a bit after having seen the video clip that Aizawa had recorded, stood up and gave a salute as she put on as much of a brave face as she could manage. "You can count on us, senseis!" After a few more formalities had been taken care of, the teachers didn't so much as gave the Big Three permission to take all fifty of the first years out to the P.E. Grounds for more training, so much as they ordered the Big Three to do so.
Given the scope of the monster that they knew the Royal Woods High team was set to let loose on them in the upcoming team battle event, the U.A. students needed as much training and prep as they could get their hands on.
The fifty first-years all stood outside of the gymnasium located on the P.E. Grounds. Izuku remembered being on the P.E. Grounds before, back on his first day at U.A. for that test that Aizawa did, and much more recently during the siege on U.A. where those men dressed like the would-be assassins that tried to murder Uraraka stormed U.A. grounds in another attempt on the gravity girl's life.
Uraraka…simply thinking about his friend made Izuku light up a bit red in the face. After all, it was during the incident where some second year Gen Ed course girls read diaries aloud on the intercom system that the green-haired cinnamon roll learned that Uraraka was in love with him. Izuku still couldn't believe that not only had Uraraka been in love with him this whole time and most likely still is (she is, but Izuku didn't know that for sure), but that the gravity girl had also expressed jealousy towards Mitsuki Bakugo, the mother of their classmate Bakugo, since said ashy-haired woman was currently dating Izuku.
As Izuku was having a hard time processing the very idea that Uraraka could have such thoughts, he was snapped back to reality when Nejire clapped her hands together a few times to get all of the first years to focus on her, Tamaki and Mirio. "Okay, everyone, here's the deal!" Nejire said to all fifty first years, "Originally, the plan that Tamaki, Mirio and I had was to have the ten best among all of you make up a team to face the ten students representing Royal Woods High."
"But after we saw that Royal Woods High has that crazy-powerful earth manipulation quirk girl on their team, the plan that you sempais came up with has to be revised completely," Hatsume said as she raised a hand, a look of mild uncertainty mixed with mild worry on her face.
"Right you are, Hatsume," Tamaki remarked as he pointed to the eccentric inventor girl in a commending manner, "We're going to be doing as Aizawa-sensei said and work on a team that will be made up of all fifty-three of us here."
After Tamaki had finished speaking, Itsuka raised a hand, and Nejire called on her to speak. "But you were there when Aizawa-sensei played that video clip he recorded while he was over at Ketsubutsu earlier. The team for Royal Woods High has a girl capable of taking on one-hundred opponents all at one and on her own and not only still win, but do so with ease." The class rep of 1-B gently shook her head, a worried expression of being lost on what to do on her face. "How are we going to be able to stand up to something like that?"
"You all have undergone that special training under Pixie-sensei for this very reason," Nejire pointed out, "You all have experience in facing someone with a potent earth manipulation quirk. We just need to iron out a few kinks and before you know it, the lot of us will go on to achieve what many would say is impossible."
"Uhh, sempais," Artemis began in a dry tone, "How exactly do you intend to prep us for a match where we are going to be fighting someone who is essentially a god compared to us?" Ibara looked fit to snap at her exoskeletoned classmate, but a chop to the back of her head from Akuma made the devout Christian of class 1-B stop short before she was able to get even one pious word out. The way that the Satanist of U.A. cut off Ibara was much like how Itsuka tended to cut Monoma off whenever he tires tearing into class 1-A.
As the first years looked at the Big Three, a good number of them, as well as Tamaki, watched as Mirio walked over a ways, putting some distance between himself and the other Big Three members. The blonde, muscular young man picked up a random push broom, unscrewed the head from the handle so that only the shaft of the broom remained, twirled the broom shaft over his head as if it were a martial arts staff, then brought it back down.
After that, and to the shock of most of the girls that were present, Mirio ripped his shirt off, leaving him with nothing on to cover the upper half of his form. The original 1-A girls, remembering back to when their class had that match against their blonde-haired sempai, were all glad that Mirio's top was the only bit of his clothing that he had removed; everything that he wore from the waist down stayed on. After he collected his 'staff' and took his top off, Mirio, to the bafflement of most everyone at the P.E. Grounds, actually began to sing;
(Mirio) Let's get down to business, to defeat Royal Woods,
Did they send me pansies, when I asked for dudes?
You're the weakest noobs I've ever met, but you can bet before I'm through,
Somehow I'll…make heroes…out of you!
Peaceful as a garden, but on fire within,
When we find your balance, you are sure to win,
You're a useless, weak, pathetic bunch, and you haven't got a clue,
I will make…heroes out…all of you!
(Kaminari) Oh God, this is worse than death,
(Izuku) Hope all this training doesn't kill me,
(Hatsume) My babies at the shop all better be okay,
(Tamaki) This goof has them scared to death,
(Kinoko) Hope Eijiro sees my fanny,
(Mineta) Being expelled is better than this all day!
(Kirishima, Ojiro, Tetsutetsu, Hiryu) Be heroes!
(Mirio) You must be quick as a rushing river,
(Kirishima, Ojiro, Tetsutetsu, Hiryu) Be heroes!
(Mirio) With all the punch of a big monsoon,
(Kirishima, Ojiro, Tetsutetsu, Hiryu) Be heroes!
(Mirio) The burning force of a great wildfire,
Mysterious as the dark side of the moon!
(Tokoyami, seeing that Mirio is pointing at him) "Why am I the moon?"
(Mirio) Time is racing forward, 'till Royal Woods arrives,
Obey all my orders, and you might survive,
You need to face this raging war,
So don't even think you're through,
I will make…heroes out…all of you!
(Kirishima, Ojiro, Tetsutetsu, Hiryu) Be heroes!
(Mirio) You must be quick as a rushing river,
(Kirishima, Ojiro, Tetsutetsu, Hiryu) Be heroes!
(Mirio) With all the punch of a big monsoon,
(Kirishima, Ojiro, Tetsutetsu, Hiryu) Be heroes!
(Mirio) The burning force of a great wildfire,
Mysterious as the dark side of the moon! (Points at Tokoyami again, who merely scowls)
(Kirishima, Ojiro, Tetsutetsu, Hiryu) Be heroes!
(Mirio) You must be quick as a rushing river,
(Kirishima, Ojiro, Tetsutetsu, Hiryu) Be heroes!
(Mirio) With all the punch of a big monsoon,
(Kirishima, Ojiro, Tetsutetsu, Hiryu) Be heroes!
(Mirio) The burning force of a great wildfire,
Mysterious as the dark side of the moon!
(Tokoyami, seeing he's being pointed at a third time) *growls in annoyed tone while his arms are crossed over his chest*
After they had been forced to spend the remaining hours of that school day training with the Big Three while listening to the surprising talented singing voice of Mirio, all fifty of the first years were able to eventually make it back to their respective dorm buildings to rest for the evening. A good many of the 1-A students collapsed onto the floor and various seating furniture in the main area on the ground floor of Heights Alliance, with only Izuku, Bakugo, Todoroki, Kirishima, Tenya, Kaminari and Tokoyami still standing.
"That was bar none the most intense training that I can recall doing to date ever since we all first started attending U.A.!" Shoji remarked as he sat in a position on an armchair that was half sitting and half laying; the Tentacle Hero looked as if he were melting into that armchair, he was so worn out. Looking over to where the seven of his classmates who weren't totally collapsed from exhaustion all stood, the youngest student in 1-A arched an eyebrow, his curiosity having been piqued. "Hey, home come you seven aren't worn out like the rest of us?"
Looking over when he heard Shoji call out and seeing him look in their direction, the seven boys that still stood had mostly unreadable expressions that held hints of being resigned. It was Izuku who decided to speak up on behalf of himself and the other six boys that were still up. "…During the field trip our class took," Izuku began, "Before we got Shinso and the new girls added to our class, the boys here and I actually fought a Sacred Heritage quirk user."
All of the collapsed 1-A students looked at Izuku and the boys with shocked expressions, some of them even gasping. Seeing that he had everyone's attention, Izuku went on with his story. "It was this samurai-like guy who can conjure and manipulate golden fire."
"Oh, I think I remember him," Yaoyorozu said, getting a lot of her classmates to all turn to face her, "He was led into attacking the seven of you boys due to Mineta making him fly off the handle by groping his girlfriend's ass, only for Mineta to use you guys as scapegoats to distract him." Looking to the seven boys that were still up, the wealthy girl added, "If it helps any of you, he was very much remorseful over losing his temper on the seven of you."
"Yeah, I remember Aggro as well," Shoji said as he tried sitting himself up straighter on the armchair he had collapsed into, "Given that the whole mess was really Mineta's fault, as well as Aggro's aforementioned remorse over what he did and how he had arranged with the hospital to have his girlfriend's friend with the healing quirk tend to you guys while you were staying there, we were able to work out a deal with him where his actions would be granted a pardon in return for his assistance in helping with tracking down the men that tried to murder Uraraka during the field trip."
Yaoyorozu nodded once to what Shoji said, confirming his story. "He's right," Yaoyorozu said to everyone else, "That Aggro fellow was on the team with me, Shoji, Aizawa-sensei and Hizashi-sensei when we were looking to track down those would-be assassins. Although our team wasn't the one that found and caught those would-be killers, Aggro did assist in helping us acquire valuable information for investigating the group that wanted to, if not still does want to, kill Uraraka." The gravity girl, with a somber expression on her face, looked down toward the floor in the common area of Heights Alliance.
Izuku nodded once in acknowledgement to what his wealthy classmate had said. "…Yeah, the heroes are still trying to investigate that, especially since they have reason to believe it may be connected to the recent murder of Mrs. Uraraka." Looking up at all of his classmates, Izuku said, "The heroes investigating that business is all the more reason for us not to focus on that." The green-eyed boy pounded a fist into his hand as he wore a serious expression. "What we need to keep our focus on is the upcoming team battle event."
"Deku's right," Bakugo remarked while jerking a thumb at Izuku, "Our opponents are going to be bringing a juggernaut with them, so we need to prep for her as much as we can. As much as you all may not like the sound of this, we're going to have to do another round of the training that we did today tomorrow." This declaration from the explosive teen drew a chorus of moans from the exhausted 1-A students, sounding a mix of wishing that they didn't have to do so and knowing full well that they didn't exactly have much of a choice in the matter.
END, CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Author's notes;
This chapter kicks off the part where everyone is prepping as much as they can for the team battle event, which will end up playing out in a manner that no one, both the characters in the story and you the readers, will expect. Those who want to see exactly where all of this is leading will just have to wait and see what exactly happens when the teams that respectively represents both schools taking part in the team battle event finally face each other.
The big battle is still a ways off, so until then the entire cast will have some time to work some kinks out in preparation. Also, this is probably the first chapter where Mirio shows up and actually says something (albeit in the form of a parody song), so in case any of you were annoyed that he had stayed silent until now, well here you go. I actually don't have anything against Mirio, and I will admit that he's one of my more favorite characters. It's just that I like the other two members of the Big Three more; Tamaki is actually my overall favorite of the trio, even though I've probably used Nejire more thus far.