Twisted Nightmares

Chapter 5

Awaiting their downfall.

Mineta knew he had to brainstorm solutions to his Yaoyorozu problem. That was his number one priority out of everything else at the moment, since his succeeding in saving the class depended on her cooperation.

He was vaguely aware of Recovery Girl complimenting Tsuyu and Tokoyami for their teamwork as his classmates watched in anticipation, but saving lives was more important to him at the moment.

As far as Mineta knew, he and Yaoyorozu were definitely not on good terms. What was the last memory he had with her in it at all?

Yaoyorozu was pretty disgusted when I latched on to her back in the Sports Festival.

Yeah, yikes. He had kind of forgot about how he had used the event in the Sports Festival as an excuse just to touch another female in his class. Thinking back on it, he wasn't too proud of it anymore. And for reasons other than the Sports Festival, he was basically hated by anyone that was female, excluding Recovery Girl. Recovery Girl just thought he was a weird little gremlin, which wasn't too far from the truth. He wondered how was he going to convince Yaoyorozu to even talk to him? Had she noticed his change that other day? Hopefully not. Mineta knew he needed to people to think he was his old perverted self, not...whatever he was now. If Yaoyorozu noticed his change, and that he wasn't a perverted kid...it would bring trouble if he started talking to her a lot more often about random stuff like making gas masks.

Mineta had been so busy thinking about his "situation", he failed to notice Tsuyu and Tokoyami had beaten Ectoplasma. With Tsuyu's quick thinking and Dark Shadow's speed, they had bested the clone based Pro Hero. The other three students in the spectator room cheered with joy, ecstatic as the Pro Hero congratulated them for their victory. Midoriya and Uraraka especially seemed ecstatic about their froggy friend succeeding the practical. Made sense, since they were close friends as of now.

It seemed Iida and Ojiro would now go against Power Loader, the Pro Hero, who was best known for his inventions and brains, and how he also was always seen scolding Hatsume Mei for something she did at least once a day. It always ended with her talking about how "She learned something from failure" or something, to Mineta's knowledge. It apparently would end with Power Loader facepalming or something like that at Mei's shenanigans.

Mineta honestly felt that he could really use her optimism right about now, because the idea of going against God knows how many villains during the camp attack really made him nervous. Mineta was no kung fu fighter like Ojiro, and his stubby legs didn't exactly give him the agility needed for those fancy moves either. The luck that was favoring him these past days seemed to be disappearing, probably used it all. Well, if he knew he had luck to be used, he would of used it very sparingly, but it seemed that time had passed long ago.

Even if a miracle happened, and Yaoyorozu agreed to make enough gas masks for the entirety of class A and B, how could he get them all to the students in time? Poison gas or smoke wasn't usually known for taking a long time to take effect, since it usually depends on the person breathing the smoke into their lungs.

The thought still disturbed Mineta greatly. While he knew he had died at the very beginning of the villain attack, how many would have died if it had kept going instead of restarting?

A mental image of his fellow students choking and collapsing after accidentally inhaling the toxic smoke made him shiver. That was a disturbing thought. He swallowed uncomfortably. Sure he didn't really like Kaminari or Ojiro right now, but the mental image of them dying in agony hurt his chest. Or was that his heart hurting at the thought of his friends hurting? Even if he wasn't on very good terms with those two, he couldn't let them die.

"Team Iida and Ojiro have passed!"

"Aw yeah!"

"They're both amazing!"

"Iida's pretty cool!"

Mineta was brought back to reality once more by his excited friends cheering for the quick class rep and tailed student managing to beat Power Loader with their smart plan to outsmart the Pro Hero.

Wait a second.

Mineta's train of thought came to a halt as the answer to his problem presented itself right to his face.

Iida.

Well, forget about what he said before, luck seemed to have rematerialized since the solution for his problem was literally announced for him. Iida was perfect for the task, he was the fastest on foot in the class! Well Midoriya and Bakugo were a close second. Iida could just get the bag of gas masks and run around the forest! That would work! If he managed to convince Yaoyorozu to make the gas masks, Iida would probably be more than happy to help, right?

A few seconds of his friends cheers dying down to normal conversation brought him back to reality.

Oh yeah, they were taking practical exams weren't they? He needed to stop getting lost in thought so easily. At least he wasn't in a combat scenario in class training, because distractions during those was basically an invitation to your defeat. And probably a bad grade from Aizawa, he didn't like slackers. And speaking of his teacher... If he remembered correctly, Yaoyorozu and Todoroki were about to take their practical, in a fight against Aizawa.

Aizawa wasn't exactly the Number 1 Hero, but he could still use people like Mineta as a makeshift kickball. Even though they won, Mineta never watched the first time. Yaoyorozu scored like first in the midterms right? She had this in the bag. He was wrong.

Mineta actually observed the exam this time, and watched as Yaoyorozu actually struggled in her fight against Aizawa. It felt unusual how seeing someone usually composed as her was borderline crying at some points, probably from stress. But she finally managed to work with a slightly reluctant Todoroki, and actually managed to best Aizawa, to the group's delight. Yaoyorozu began to cry (Tears of joy hopefully) while Recovery Girl called Eraserhead out for being such a softie.

Nervous chuckling could be heard, and it came from the brown haired girl in the room. She turned to Midoriya. "Ehehe...well, I guess it's my turn," Uraraka said nervously as she rubbed the back of her head. She wasn't the most confident about her final, especially with her teammate. Especially when she tried to form a plan of attack earlier, to no avail.

"Aoyama, what do you think we should do when it comes to Thirte-"

Uraraka trailed off, seeing as her flamboyant classmate was currently posing in the mirror, obviously admiring the 'twinkle' of his costume. (But the twinkle of his cape was pretty snazzy but Uraraka wasn't about to encourage that sort of behavior when they, well at least Uraraka, was trying to plan how to pass their practical.

She nervously turned around, and began to walk away to the exit. Mineta swore that her hands might have been shaking just a little bit, not enough to notice at first glance. But Mineta saw, and Midoirya probably did as well. Her helpless expression that didn't scream "Confidence" wasn't helping her situation either. Mineta notice the slight movement from Midoriya, who looked like he wanted to stop Uraraka, but seemed to be frozen to the ground. His expression was in "Concern Mode" though, so maybe he would? Well, Mineta wasn't about to risk that.

"Psst, Midoriya!" Midoriya looked down at Mineta who tugged at his sleeve. "You just gonna let Uraraka put herself down like that? Right before her exam? You should give her some advice or something, or tell her she'll do fine! I think she'd really appreciate it."

Midoriya looked with wide eyes as he absorbed what the grape haired boy had said to him. Mineta was right. What was he doing? Seeing his usually bubbly best friend lacking in confidence hurt his heart to the point of almost having to put his hands on his chest. He couldn't just let her walk off! He jogged after Uraraka as she walked out of the spectating room.

"Uraraka! Wait up a sec!" The chocolate haired girl in question turned to see her best friend Midoriya chasing after her. "Can I talk to you for a second? It's important!" Uraraka smiled at his manners. Usually normal people would come up to her and start speaking their mind without even greeting or asking, but Deku always asked permission. Even if they were already good friends, he was still always so polite to people no matter who it was. It was one of the many little things that made Uraraka lo- uh, like Deku in a platonic, non romantic way. Best buddies in fact! Friendship! Besties! That was it!

Uraraka found her face to be burning until Deku's voice shook her from her stupor. "Uraraka!"

"O-oh, s-sorry!" Uraraka said. "What did you need Deku?" her face was still burning slightly, now from embarrassment of not acknowledging Deku the first time. Well, now she was paying attention.

The last thing she expected was Deku to take both his hands and clasped them around her right one. Her face quickly began to heat up once more. The feeling of Deku's gloved, yet somehow soft hands gently close over her hand made Uraraka want to melt.

"Uwaaah? D-Deku?" Uraraka managed to squeak out. Deku was holding her hand! Her hand!

Deku had a warm smile on his little freckled face, making Uraraka blush even more. "Uraraka! You gotta be more confident in yourself! You're a hero! Even if your teammate isn't the most compatible, but that's what being a hero is about! You should smile and do your best! I believe in you!"

Despite almost fainting from embarrassment at Deku's rather bold move...no Deku wasn't making a "move" on her at all what was she thinking Deku was just trying to encourage her that's it and that's all it'll be, won't be anything else nope.

"Uraraka."
His serious tone snapped the girl out of it. "Please, be confident that you can do it! You should take this exam on with a smile!" Deku's voice held a sincere tone to it, along with a tinge of concern for her lack of self confidence that she displayed earlier.

He was right! What was she thinking? Thirteen was a Pro Hero, at least it wasn't as bad as fighting All Might, she'd definitely take Aoyama as a partner over Bakugo. She winced, she hoped Deku would pass, even if all odds were against the green haired boy.

She had a small smile grow on her face. "You're right Deku! I'll do my best! Plus Ultra, right?"

Deku's smile grew and nodded, and released her hand. "Good luck Uraraka! We'll be rooting for you!"

The girl jogged off to join Aoyama and waved back at Midoriya. Midoriya smiled and waved back. He was delighted to see she had more bounce in her step now. He took a second to remember the feeling of Uraraka's hand in his hands. Her hand was surprisingly soft. It only took Midoriya roughly 30 seconds to realize what he had done.

He had just held Uraraka's hand.

He had held Uraraka's hand.

He held Uraraka's hand.

His hands quickly found themselves covering his face as his face turned red. What was he thinking? He had probably made her so uncomfortable! He should apologize when she hopefully succeeded the practical.

Mineta knew Midoriya had succeeded in his mission when he saw the trembling green haired boy walk back in, and give the grape boy a shaky thumbs up. And an amused Mineta glady returned with a smile. Mineta was honestly more happy that Midoriya managed to accomplish the task without fainting, or still having his hands over his obviously red face. Midoriya was also followed by Tsuyu, who decided to join Midoriya to watch Uraraka take her practical. Upon entering, the frog girl actually stopped upon seeing the grape haired boy. It appeared that Tsuyu was actually surprised that Mineta was standing there.
After Midoriya walked back up to his spot, Mineta felt a tad bit irritated when he noticed the amphibian girl staring at him blankly. She didn't say anything, but just looked at him those blank eyes. Was he imaging things, or did her gaze look just a tinge bit judgmental? He narrowed his eyes, not liking the way Tsuyu was staring at him. He decided to address it. "Can I help y-"

"Weren't you and Sero going to plan for your fight? Ribbit." Tsuyu's voice cut him off. His plan? Oh yeah, he did say something after the spat with Mina and Kaminari earlier. So she was right, technically. But it wouldn't take that long. Mineta rolled his eyes. Did people really think he was that dumb? That he'd need to take roughly the time of half the classes exams to come up with a plan? Did he really give off those sort of vibes?

Well, my old self probably would. Ugh.

Luckily Sero seemed to catch on to their conversation. "We did Tsuyu! We think we got it!" Mineta silently praised his unlikely savior. He didn't expect Sero to save his hide in this type of a situation.

Mineta gave a smug grin. "Besides we're going to pass anyways. Plan or not, this is going to be laughably easy." That was also true, he knew that he'd pass, and that he'd outsmart the Pro Hero.

"Ribbit. You seem awfully confident that you'll succeed. Are you sure you're not just getting cocky?"

That seemed to make Mineta's smile lower a little. What was Tsuyu's sudden beef with him? Mina and Kaminari were already enough, now Tsuyu?

Probably cause you groped her at the USJ.

He cringed as he remembered he grabbed at her chest after sometime when All Might appeared, with Tsuyu countering with shoving his head underwater in retaliation.

Right. He should just apologize for that, and pray that she'd leave him alone. He had to get back to planning for the camping trip. He'd let himself get distracted with Midoriya's "Uraraka" situation. He needed to focus.

"Uraraka and Aoyama, start!"

Oh. They already started? Huh. Well then that means Midoriya, Sero, and Recovery Girl would be distracted by the fight. Now was the time to get a certain amphibian off his back, and hopefully get her to leave him alone. He turned towards Tsuyu, who immediately looked at him once more upon seeing his slight shift of movement. "Are you giving me shit because of the USJ?" Mineta whispered venomously. He noted that the frog girl eyes slightly widened at him cursing, and she halted from saying whatever she was about to follow up with.

Mineta winced at his tone, and quickly tried to repair the damage. "I'm sorry about groping you alright? Sorry about making comments about your chest, I won't ever bother you alright? So can you stop getting on my case?" And my nerves. If this keeps up, the others will notice.

Tsuyu seemed taken aback by the grape boy's sudden outburst. No, she wasn't "giving him shit" at the moment because of the USJ, but she was surprised that he even bothered to apologize. It seemed so out of character for the pervert of Class A to suddenly even feel a hint of remorse for his actions. But she was unsettled by Mineta's recent behavior now, he never would of lashed out like this before.

"Well?" Mineta tapped his foot impatiently. Mineta didn't like the other idea that Tsuyu seemed bothered by his newfound confidence. What was her deal?

They both glared at each other for what seemed like long minutes. Finally Tsuyu broke her gaze first, and walked over to join Midoriya and Sero to root for Uraraka (And Aoyama of course.)

Mineta felt oddly satisfied that he managed to make the blank faced frog girl to back down first, but then put his hands to his forehead in stress. He probably shouldn't of lashed out, but it was already done, and the irritation Mineta had felt began to dissipate. Mineta knew he should probably get back to brainstorming the camp situation. The issue being if Iida wasn't there, or didn't help for some reason. So he'd have to figure out how successfully make sure the students got gas masks so they wouldn't have to suffer whatever sort of effects the purple smoke had. Even though Iida refusing to help was very unlikely, since his bespectacled classmate was probably one of the most heroic students in UA. But in the case that for some reason he didn't, it would be rather difficult, as he imagined himself lugging around roughly 70 pounds worth of gas masks around the forest before the assault. He still had a lot to sort out. He had time though, and he'd use every second to his advantage. He had a plan to formulate.

And number 5 has been rewritten! Number 6 is up next! If you liked this, please Review/Follow/Fav, it helps me want to make faster updates!