Chapter Forty-Two - Liberation
Before their Summer break began, the students of Class 1-A gathered for a final half day of class to receive more information about the upcoming Summer Training Camp.
It was quickly apparent who had failed the Final Exam, even if they weren't loudly complaining about it. Izuku had approached the sullen group hesitantly before class began, to maybe cheer them up.
"Everyone.. I'm.. Looking forward to hearing.. Your stories… From Training Camp," Mina sobbed, the other three around her staring intensely into the middle-distance, as if defeated.
"W-We don't know that for sure! What if there's a last minute twist," Izuku suggested.
"Midoriya… You'll probably jinx it if you say it out loud like that," Sero pointed out from nearby. "Like.. My team won, but I'm not sure I can pass since Mineta did all the work— So who really knows."
Mineta was listening nearby, kicking it back with his feet up on his desk, looking incredibly smug to hear such a thing, and was nodding to himself. "Yeah… I'm pretty great," he spoke to nobody.
Kaminari, Sato, and Kirishima didn't look convinced, and Mina only cried out louder. Sero rubbed the back of his neck, looking to Izuku who could only shrug at him.
Soon after the bell had rung, the door to the class opened suddenly, and Aizawa entered.
"Everyone should be seated when the bell rings," he said sternly.
Within an instant, everyone was in their seat, staring straight ahead obediently. He stood at the podium at the front of the class and looked around.
"Unfortunately, it seems like some of you didn't pass your final exams," Aizawa spoke. The four students who knew their fates tensed up as he looked at them all. "As far as the training camp is concerned…"
Their teacher suddenly smiled widely, though for the scruffy, tired-looking man, it looked sort of
menacing.
"Everyone is going!"
A last-minute twist! The failures all thought at the same time, all nearly brought to tears at the news.
"Some failed the practical, but nobody failed the written exam," Aizawa explained. "For the practicals, Kirishima, Sero, Ashido, Sato, and Kaminari failed."
Sero hung his head. "Damn… I figured I wouldn't pass just because our team won…"
"The teachers all left ways for you, the students, to win," the man continued. "After all, if we had truly gone all out, there would've been no hope for you guys."
Ojiro, who sat near the front of the class, spoke up, his tail swaying: "So… When you said you were going to crush us…?"
"The point of the training camp is to increase your strength. Of course those who failed will need it even more— It was a rational falsehood!" At this, their sensei smiled yet again, which wasn't exactly reassuring.
Everyone was taken aback by this. Those who failed were already celebrating at their seats, but Iida seemed shaken up, angrily looking down at a clenched fist.
"I was tricked again…?" The class president suddenly shot up with his hand in the air. "Since you've lied to us twice, our faith in you will waiver, you know!"
Izuku chuckled at the sight, knowing at this point how stiff Iida could be— But it was nice seeing him back in his usual state after what had happened a couple of weeks earlier. They weren't allowed to talk about the Hero Killer incident, so it was difficult to resist discussing it… But he seemed to be doing fine, so Izuku didn't mind.
"Those who failed will be required to do extra lessons during the training camp, however," Aizawa continued. The five failures instantly stopped their celebration. "In fact, it will be way tougher than if you had just stayed here to do extra lessons instead."
With that, the short school day came to a quick close. They were to prepare for the upcoming trip as they saw fit, but a few of the Class 1-A students had a particular idea, seeing as though most of them were unprepared for the Summer.
"We should go to the mall together!" It was Toru who spoke of it first, the invisible girl obviously bursting with excitement— Even if it was mostly based on the way she was wiggling around, since her clothes were all that could be seen.
"That sounds really fun," Mina chimed in.
Soon enough, almost everyone had decided to join, including Izuku, since he knew it would be a fun distraction from everything else that had been going on recently.
Naturally though, Bakugo didn't even give them the time of day and left without saying anything but a stern, "As if I'd do something so stupid." Thus, their group was almost forged— But one more person was left.
"Hey… Todoroki? Do you want to come with us?"
Todoroki had just finished putting his things away, and gave Izuku a calm look. He was often hard to read and distant, but what probably passed for a small smile compared to his usual demeanor appeared on his face.
"I can't. I go to visit my Mother on our days off," he explained.
"O-Oh, right," Izuku nodded. It was certainly a good excuse, but he was a bit disappointed. "Then we'll see you later!"
"Right."
They exchanged a nod, before Izuku quickly scurried away from the awkwardness to rejoin the others— Who had all stopped out in the hallway for some reason.
"What's happening?" Izuku tried to peek over Iida in front of him. The tall boy was smiling and turned to him.
"Oh! Sorry Midoriya— Everyone! We can't linger in the hallway for too long," Iida demanded.
The group reluctantly dispersed and moved along, and Izuku finally saw what had kept them there.
Ameyoshi Shirui, the girl whose spot he had sort of taken in Class 1-A, was standing there with no visible bandages on her anymore. It was odd to Izuku, seeing her in the U.A uniform, her red hair pulled back into a neat ponytail, as it was much different than her more disheveled look in the hospital from the first time he had met her. There was a small semblance of scarring on the right side of her face, but Izuku tried to not stare too much.
She was speaking with Uraraka, when they both saw Izuku looking at them.
"Deku! Look who's here," Uraraka pointed out.
Izuku smiled nervously and approached the girls. Iida shot him a look and tapped his watch before walking off with the others.
"H-Hey, Shirui— So they finally released you?"
"Yep, though I can't say I'm happy to come back and immediately have to go to some camp," the girl spoke with a hint of bitterness.
Uraraka shook her head, beaming at the girl. "It's supposed to make us way stronger! It'll be fun!"
Shirui smiled at her. "Well, if you say so… I tried to get here before classes ended but there was a lot of paperwork." She sighed.
The three looked at the door to the classroom as Todoroki walked out. Izuku looked to him and was going to give a friendly smile, but he noticed that the boy was looking at Shirui— And she was looking back at him intensely. It didn't seem like much, and Todoroki dipped his head a bit to her before walking away… But something seemed a little weird about it to Izuku.
"Oh! So do you wanna come with us?" Uraraka grabbed Shirui's right arm, and Izuku winced for her, remembering the bandages that used to be there— But Shirui didn't react much, being snapped back to reality.
"Hm… I don't know," she said with a shrug. Then she looked to Izuku. "Are you going, Midoriya?"
Izuku nodded and smiled a bit. "Yeah.. I-I think it'll be fun for us to all hang out casually."
Shirui nodded at this, as if taking it into consideration. Then she smiled and locked her arm with Uraraka's.
"Well… Then let's go!"
Uraraka cheered, and the three headed off to join the others.
After everybody had gone home to change into casual clothes, they regrouped at the Kiyashi Ward Shopping Center. As far as fashion sense went, Izuku's simple t-shirt and jeans were a travesty, but the boy was pretty clueless to that sort of thing, and looked around the huge bustling mall along with everyone else, beaming.
"So many people…!"
Truly, the shopping center was jam packed with happy shoppers. Izuku was amazed at how the stores had things for quirks and builds of all types, accommodating even someone with multiple arms like Shoji.
Almost as soon as they had arrived, some people had started to recognize them.
"Hey! Those are the U.A students, right?"
"Wow! They were awesome!"
A few people approached them, while some others around chatted excitedly. Izuku felt incredibly embarrassed about talking about his second place finish. As it turned out, it was a big inspiration even to people with weak Quirks, as well as those without them.
When the fanfare had died down, the students of Class 1-A began to split up to enter different shops, as they all wanted different things. Their time to meet back up together was 3 o clock— Eventually, it ended up just being Izuku, Shirui, and Uraraka left.
"Hey, I bet you want some better food now that you're out of the hospital," Uraraka had pointed out.
"You're right, but I—" The girl started to glance over at Izuku, as if she had something to say.
Uraraka urged Shirui along. "Come onnn, we'll be back real quick!"
With the two girls heading off, Izuku found himself alone now. He sighed. Wasn't this supposed to be a thing for all of us together..
As Izuku walked along and gazed at all the stores, he had no idea of the three pairs of eyes that were watching him.
One was Tomura Shigaraki.
The villain wore a black hoodie with the hood up, his usual hand-based attire missing, so he practically blended right in as long as nobody got a close look at his face.
That one… Shigaraki thought as he remembered the night in Hosu, how his plans had been ruined by Stain after he fell to the U.A students. He readied to step out from hiding and approach the boy—
Suddenly, from a nearby wall-mounted drinking fountain, ice shot out towards him. He took a step back to avoid being skewered, surprised. Glancing around, Shigaraki quickly spotted the source up on the second floor of the mall, gazing down at him.
It was someone wearing a long winter coat with fluff around the hood. His eyes were the only thing visible, piercing through the shadow of his hood. Shigaraki's eyes narrowed.
There's others in play here.. I see…
He grasped the ice with his hand, causing it to crumble to dust, before turning and walking away from the scene angrily. The ice user gave a slight signal to someone else down below, and as Izuku sat down on a bench for a moment, he found himself being approached by someone who had much less fanfare for him than the others around him had.
The man was tall and wore a green-and-black suit. His orange hair was partly neat, with some particular nearly-mohawk-like sideways parts. His long and pointed nose was his most distinguishing feature, though just beyond it, a pair of devious eyes lurked, gazing down at Izuku.
"Hello, Midoriya," the man spoke, offering a crooked smile.
Izuku looked up at the man, feeling a strange sense of malice from him. He gulped and smiled back, nodding to him.
"H-Hello sir.. Um.. Do I know you?"
"Possibly. I am Ritsuya Yotsubashi, CEO of—"
"—Detnerat, right?" Izuku relaxed a bit, recognizing the man now from his studies. "The company that creates lifestyle support items to help with Quirks!"
Ritsuya chucked softly and nodded. "That's the one, I'm glad that you know of us. After all, you yourself create support items, correct?"
Izuku rubbed the back of his head, noticing now that two apparent bodyguards in suits were standing a little ways away, a natural thing probably for a big CEO. "I-I have a lot to learn—"
"And yet," Ritsuya interrupted him, "You do not have a Quirk yourself, do you?"
"No," Izuku said, sighing. "I'm doing the best I can, but it won't be easy.."
Ritsuya eyed Izuku for a moment, his smile dropping for only a second before returning. "And what do you think of this society we live in?"
"Huh?"
The man gestures around them to the many varieties of people walking around in the mall. "This world where those with Quirks are restricted and held in check, only used for the purposes of heroics. Is that a good world?"
Izuku thought for a moment. "Well… There has to be some kind of limitations, otherwise bad things might happen, right?"
Ritsuya nodded once. "That's a common answer, perhaps one that is correct under the common-man's scorn… But I will give you one piece of advice, Midoriya, because I do respect your tenacity," Ritsuya said, putting a thumb up towards his mouth. "When the whistle is blown, and no Hero is around: Who saves the day?"
As if to emphasize his point, Ritsuya let out a rather loud whistle, which got lost in the noise of the crowded mall. He looked around, then shrugged down to Izuku.
"Should we not be liberated from the need for Heroes to do everything for us?"
Izuku had never really considered the place that Heroes held in society, nor had he ever really considered not becoming a Hero. Unsure of what to say, Izuku could see that Uraraka and Shirui were starting to come this way.
"Keep your mind open, Quirkless Hero," Ritsuya spoke lowly, nearly biting off those last words before nodding politely and walking off.
It took Izuku a second, blinking in thought, before he stood up— However, the man had vanished into the crowd, his bodyguards also nowhere to be seen.
What… is this feeling? He took a slow, deep breath, feeling his heart pumping. It's like that one time… Izuku remembered when he had fought Kurogiri in the school gymnasium, that feeling he had gotten when he tried to attack the villain.
Death?... But why?
"Deku…?" The voice made Izuku look up, seeing the two girls looking at him. Uraraka tilted her head a bit. "Is everything okay?"
"Y-Yeah, I was just… getting antsy," he lied, letting his clenched fists relax, looking around and scanning the crowds.
What am I really getting myself into?
The day of the Summer Training Camp had arrived after no time at all. Aizawa had told the students that the destination of the camp would remain a secret until they got there, which was likely a precaution set to protect them from another villain attack after the USJ incident, so it left the students extra excited.
Izuku had spent much of the preparation time working on his Hero costume, which was an allowance he was being given for passing his Final Exam— Especially since All Might practically destroyed it during the exam. They were still going to watch him closely to ensure he didn't do anything reckless however, so he decided not to do anything too crazy.
Classes 1-A and 1-B were gathered and awaiting for their buses to arrive. Izuku had grown to enjoy the company of his new 1-A classmates, but some from 1-B were also his friends, even if the two classes shared a sort of natural rivalry.
"Midoriya!" Tetsutetsu suddenly smacked Izuku's shoulder, making him stumble a bit and hold it, wincing. "Did you pass the test, bro? What teacher were you up against?"
"Y-Yeah… It was All Might."
Tetsutetsu laughed and held up a fist. "That sounds about right for Midoriya, hah!"
From nearby, a cocky chuckle made several of them look to see Monoma standing there, with a smug expression.
"And how many of you 1-A students failed, hm?~"
The few that did scoffed and huffed, which only made the blonde laugh.
"Of course! Us superiors in 1-B only had one single failure," Monoma cackled. "And it was surely a fluke!"
Tetsutetsu leaned in close to Izuku while Monoma continued to laugh. "It was him. He failed."
"Oh…." Izuku chuckled a bit, watching as Kendo if 1-B knocked Monoma out with a swift chop and dragged him away before he could make anymore issues
"Hey hey, why isn't everyone lined up properly," Iida complained. "Come on, in your seating order, everyone!"
Soon enough, each class boarded a seperate bus, sitting in the same order they did in the classroom, and were setting off
"The buses are going to stop in an hour," Aizawa turned around and explained to the bustling students. "And when it does—"
Nobody really listened, unfortunately, as the infectious excitement continued in the bus. Aizawa sighed and turned forward again, thinking that this will be the last time they'll be allowed to be so careless.
Soon enough, after an hour had passed, the bus came to a stop.
"Alright, this is the first stop—"
Mineta was quick to bolt to the door. "Great! I've gotta take a leak!"
Kaminari followed soon after. "Do you have a kid's bladder or what?"
Eventually, everyone had piled out. They found themselves at the side of the road at a sort of lookout spot overlooking a large forest, and as everyone stretched and conversed, they started to realize something was wrong.
"Wait… Where's Class B's bus?" Someone questioned.
At that, everyone caught on, looking all around, before all turning to Aizawa.
"There's no reason to stop without a purpose," he spoke. Nearby, the doors opened to another car that was parked, turning everyones attention to the two girls and young boy who emerged.
"Long time no see, Eraser~"
"Long time no see," Aizawa returned, bowing politely to the women.
Before anyone could say anything, the two women began to enact a sort of rehearsed introduction. One had reddish-brown hair, and the other blonde, but both wore similar outfits with skirts and large, oversized cat paw gloves.
"Lock on with these sparkling gazes~"
"Stingingly cute and catlike!"
The two women struck a joint pose, and proclaimed: "Wild Wild… Pussycats!"
The students of 1-A stared blankly at the two women, except for Izuku who was very shocked to see two heroes he was familiar with.
"These pro heroes will be assisting with the Summer Camp," Aizawa explained.
Before he could go further, Izuku exclaimed, "T-They're a four-person joint team who started up their own agency!" He felt growing excitement as he continued, "This is their twelfth year—"
Suddenly, the blonde member of the Pussycats, who Izuku knew as Pixie-Bob, grabbed hold of Izuku's head with her large paw, making him stop.
"I'm 18 at heart," the woman growled. Izuku gulped, and everyone watched with only more growing confusion.
The other woman, Mandalay, smiled and directed their attention to herself. "We own all of this land," she spoke, motioning over the cliff out at the trees. "That mountain base is where you'll be staying."
She pointed, and the class was shocked to see how far away it was.
"Um… Why did we stop here then?" Uraraka looked to the others who shrugged.
"No way," Kaminari said, looking nervous. "Don't tell me…"
"It's 9:30 right now," Mandalay spoke, with a slight smirk on her face. "So if you realllly hurried up…"
Sero thumbed back towards the bus. "Guys, I think we should get back to the bus…"
"Yeah," Mina agreed. "That might be good."
"Maybe noon? Yeah, I'm sure you guys could make it there in three hours~ Otherwise, you'll miss lunch!"
"BACK TO THE BUS!" At Kaminari's startled call, the students all turned and began to rush to the bus.
"Sorry, but the training camp's already begun," Aizawa spoke from nearby.
Pixie-Bob suddenly jumped in front of them, blocking their path to the bus. With a wicked smile, she put her paws down to the ground. They began to glow with a soft blue hue, before the ground erupted and began to quake. Suddenly, the cliffside turned into a rockslide, sending the 1-A students tumbling down into the forest below.
As Izuku recovered, rubbing the back of his head, he looked around at his classmates who were also a bit shaken.
"Since it's private property, use your Quirks as you wish," Mandalay called down to them. "You'll need them for the forest beasts!"
U.A… Really is something, Izuku thought with a sigh.
"Forest beasts?! What the hell," Kirashima groaned.
"This is very much a U.A thing to do, ribbit ," Tsuya commented
"FINALLY!" Mineta ran past everyone towards the trees, finally going to find a place to use the bathroom— Then he stopped with a terrified yelp. As everyone looked his way, they stared at the fearsome sight.
A large beast made of mud and rock, its eyes locked on the small student below it.
Mineta finally used the bathroom right then and there.
To Be Continued…
Next Chapter: Wild Wild Summer Camp