It was Monday morning and we were all back in class, recovering from our internships.
Apparently, Best Jeanist had given Bakugou such a sleek haircut that it was still stuck in a perfect ratio after a wash. Eiji and Sero couldn't seem to stop laughing at that.
"Stop it," Bakugou snarled back at them, predictably. "I'll kill you both!"
"I'd like to see you try , pretty boy!" Sero teased him.
I was busy talking, meanwhile, with Tsuyu and Jirou. Apparently, Jirou had gotten to perform some actual hero work in her internship.
"Whoa, so you, you got to do villain cleanup? I'm so jealous!" I cried.
"Yeah, but it was really just guiding evacuees and logistical support stuff, so I didn't actually get to do fighting," said Jirou, a little regretfully.
"That's still so cool!"
"It was mostly just training and patrolling the ship deck for me," mused Tsuyu, "But there was this one day where we caught a bunch of drug smugglers."
"THAT'S SO COOL," me and Jirou both gasped back at her. She turned over to the back row, and asked "Heya Ochako, how was your week?"
Ochako was exuding some kind of aura, like everything about her had changed.
"It was very enlightening," she grinned, throwing a few punches in place.
"Ochako's had some kind of awakening," said Tsuyu Chan, watching her with her head tilted.
"She went to the Battle Hero Gunhead's, right?" said Kyoka, shivering a little as we watched.
Our exercise in class that day was a training session with All Might, in a brand new stage that looked like a huge mess of pipes, buildings and construction equipment.
"I AM HERE…is the note I usually start on, but right, onto foundational hero study time!" boomed our teacher. "It's been a while, boys and girls. In good spirits, I hope?"
"That was a really lukewarm entry…after so long too. He must have run out of schticks," a few of our classmates muttered.
"Right! on the heels of all your workplace experience, this time we'll do something playful,' said Sensei, muttering back "Run out? Never. My supply of schticks is inexhaustible." Then, back to business: "It's a rescue training race."
"Shouldn't rescue training be conducted at USJ?" Iida called back in his usual over-serious tone.
"No, that place is for disaster rescue. What was I saying? This is a race. This place is training ground gamma, where densely packed lanes make this construction site seem more like a complex labyrinth. Make four groups of five! We'll done the training one group at a time. When I've given the distress signal somewhere n the area, you all simultaneously start form the outside limits. This is a competition to see who can get to me first. Of course, keep damage to the surrounding buildings at a minimum," he finished, pointing at Bakugou.
I was in the first group called, competing with Iida, Ojiro, Sero and Midoriya. I liked my odds. Iida was still injured from that incident wit the hero killer, so he wouldn't be too fast. The footing was too uneven for Sero to make much use of it, and Midoriya's quirk wouldn't help him at all here, so all I had to worry about was Sero's tape.
I've got this. I'll show em all how fast I am.
At the start button I began climbing up the building I stood near to get a good view of what to slide along.
When I'd reached it, I could see that two of my classmates were far ahead of me. Sero, like I'd guessed, but ahead of him, flying through the area as if surfing, bouncing, and gliding with ease, was none other than…
"Midoriya?!" I gasped, staring at his progress. "You flying?!"
Only one week ago, Midoriya'd only been able to use his power by breaking his body. And all of a sudden here he was jumping around just like Bakugou!
I refocused. I'd have to try even harder now that my classmates had improved.
But even though I slid on extra viscosity acid, and took some pretty daring jumps to get there, and even though Midoriya slipped up and fell behind me -
"FINISH!" Called All Might, handing the prize to Sero. As I'd feared, SEro had beat me to it. I found myself stomping the ground in anger and frustrating. Darn it, DARN IT!
After all the hard work I'd put into bettering my quirk, I'd come in fourth.
"Young SEro may have come in first," said All Might, "But you all showed me some remarkable improvement! Now keep at it and begin preparing for the upcoming final exams!"
I was in the stands for the rest. The class was taking bets on each fight and who'd come out first. Eiji actually placed higher than me in his, coming in second only after Ochako, who won her round. He'd managed to train his quirk a bunch and moved faster than I'd expected him to.
He's moving faster than me, I thought to myself, starting to get nervous. Getting better quicker.
Later on in the locker rooms this still weighed on my mind. He didn't used to be so confident or quick. It's like he's catching up to me. Surpassing me.
I shook myself. I'm starting to sound like Bakugou! Got e careful not to get too competitive…
Still though, I thought, as Jirou shoved her earphone jack into Mineta's eye while he tried to peep through some hole in the wall, I'd better work on getting better fast.
In homeroom the next morning, Sensei told us "Summer break is fast approaching. Of course, we can't just let you relax an entire month. We'll be going to a summer break forest lodge."
Everyone started cheering, me included.
"TRUTH OUR DARE!" I squealed, fist pumping. Behind me, Tsuyu added "Fireworks, and Iida "Curry." So much fun!
"However," Sensei silenced us with a glare, "Should any of you fall short of a passing grade for the end of term test, then you're stuck in remedial hell.'
"Let's do our best, everyone!" Eiji called out with his best supportive voice.
Summer training camp! Back then, I couldn't imagine anything more fun, anything else I could look forward to quite so much.
I can't believe that's what I once though back then…