Twisted Nightmares

Chapter 10

Shopping Spree and Water Fun

"E-Everyone, I'm l-looking f-forward to hearing your c-camp stories," Mina said, her shaky voice indicating that she was about to break into tears. Mina had been utterly devastated at her failure, and it showed once someone brought up the topic of the camp. The pink girl had immediately gotten emotional, and borderline crying.

Although the whole crying thing seemed to already happened, as Mineta noticed the tears threatening to leak out of the corners of the pink girl's eyes as she sniffled.

It was another sense of deja vu as Mineta sat and watched as Midoriya desperately tried to reassure her, obviously distressed at the fact that one of his friends was about to cry. Mineta knew if someone cried long or hard enough in front of Midoirya, the green haired boy would probably join in and shed his own tears.

Mineta raised his eyebrows as the events unfolded in front of him. Midoriya sure does care a lot for his classmates. He certainly is hero material.

Mineta knew very well that they would go camping anyways, so he tried to reassure them the best he could. "Midoriya's right," Mineta called to them from his desk. "This is UA we're talking about, he's probably gonna say he deceived us on purpose." He said as he fiddled with a pencil.

Kaminari and Mina just gave him nasty looks in response. Mineta inwardly cursed his tone, it probably sounded snarkier than what he would of preferred. I should apologize to them soon, they probably thought I was insulting them. I should watch my tone...

"Oh yeah! How would you know?!" Mina said, a few spare tears leaking from her eyes. The acid girl wiped at her wet eyes while Uraraka patted her back sympathetically.

Watching from the side of the room, Sero gave a knowing nod at Mineta. The grape boy still had to apologize, but was met with dirty looks from the two students whenever he tried to approach them. He'd try to ask at the mall, he was pretty sure they went there today, right? If he didn't get the chance, he'd make sure he'd do it at the camp.

Mineta tried not to doze off as Aizawa came in once more, and revealed that he had shockingly lied to them (The horror), and they were all going to the camp since nobody there failed both exams.

Mina and Kaminari were overjoyed as to be expected, and Mineta was vaguely aware that Mina had glanced at him with a frown on her face. Most likely she remembered that Mineta had predicted that they would go.

He tried not to flinch at her glare, while failing to do so. Sero was right, he needed to apologize as soon as they got there. Like it or not, holding this grudge probably wouldn't be very good for him in the long run, especially considering what was going to happen.

Aizawa finished his announcement, and just like the first time, the class began to discuss going to the mall on a shopping spree for stuff for their trip. Mina obviously, was the most excited. Nothing got her blood going more than going shopping with her friends

Although Kaminari and Mina didn't look to thrilled that Mineta had decided to tag along on their shopping trip, they didn't say anything. Which the grape boy was obviously thankful for, he wasn't looking for drama, not today. The past few days had taught Mineta that there could be such thing as too much drama.

"Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall!" Mina exclaimed happily, pumping a fist in the air as the others looked around in amazement at the size of the shopping center, stands, concessions, and built in clothing stores were scattered around in the huge complex. After being recognized by some strangers, who knew their faces from the Sports Festival broadcast, the students discussed what to buy.

"I need to buy a big carry on bag," Jirou said. Yaoyorozu smiled in response at Jirou's suggestion. "Then why don't we go together?" Yaoyorozu suggested cheerfully.

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Mineta could already see one of them getting distracted by a brightly colored dress, or a rather large purse. Well, maybe not Jirou. She'd probably get a leather motorcycle jacket or something really hardcore, knowing the rockstar girl.

But Mineta had shopping needs of his own. Beginning to pace around a fountain deep in thought, he began to plan."I wonder if this mall has first aid medical kits... maybe even trauma kits as well if I'm lucky...Perhaps a gas mask?" Mineta thought out loud. The forest attack would probably mean a lot of people would get hurt. and it would be awhile before emergency services arrived. He scratched an itch on his neck in irritation.

But he had little medical knowledge. Even if he had some knowledge of stitching deep cuts, it probably wouldn't do much. Especially when it came to villains, if an attack from villains resulted in injuries like the ones that got Aizawa completely mummified, small stitches really wouldn't be very useful. This wasn't something he could put a band aid on and call it a day.

The teachers obviously knew their stuff when it came to saving and rescuing people in need. (Hopefully) that was one issue settled. But Mineta was no fool. The teachers couldn't be everywhere at once. He'd have to find out if one of his classmates had talent for medical stuff.

Obviously someone smart. Someone who was extremely intelligent, and knew their stuff, maybe Iida, and...

Yaoyorozu.

Oh boy. Did all of his solutions revolve around that girl? Of course it did. It was his fault that he had decided to be an asshole during the exams, and she probably still remembered that whole shtick with him disrespecting her. That probably wasn't going to be much help with the situation. But from a realistic outlook, she was an almost perfect candidate.

Well, other then her experience, with how much stuff she knew, she just had to know something right? Maybe her quirk could make extra medical supplies, materials, and tools. That would be pretty useful when the villains decided to strike. He faintly remembered her during their first days at UA and how she explained how she "studied" something so she knew...What was it that she knew? Mineta couldn't think of it but he knew whatever it was enabled her to create whatever she wanted. Something with atoms or whatever.

He'd have to convince her to help with the creating thing as well. But he could wait until the villains actually came, the smoke obviously would make her cooperate a bit faster. But the issue of the gas masks, she might not believe him. She'd be too suspicious. He'd have to come up with a solution for that later.

Still, he had to focus, maybe grab a gas mask or two for himself, if they sold them there. Professional gas masks and trauma kits usually weren't exactly cheap, and they weren't exactly common in malls. But this was a big and pretty popular mall, so maybe there'd be a chance.

He'd have to look pretty damn hard, and he'd probably get odd looks from his classmates, but he'll just tell them that his mother was worried for him, and that she demanded he took precautions. But other than the looks he'd get, he knew he was gonna have to fork up a lot of cash to pay for that stuff.

Before he left, Mineta stopped in his tracks. Something else happened hadn't it? Something important here, but his memories were a bit mucked up thanks to having to repeat more than a weeks worth of the past. He briefly remembered something happening to someone? Someone was going to do something...

He shook the thoughts from his head, as everyone had already split up while Uraraka conversed to Midoriya about something. He wasn't about to go investigate, he had to get as much stuff as he could. He'd let his friends enjoy themselves and their shopping, since none of them probably wanted him there.

As Mineta walked off from the meet up spot, the grape haired boy didn't seem to notice the bizarre looks from Kaminari and Midoriya when they heard him mention a trauma kit. Mineta didn't seem to notice their bizarre looks as he branched off from everyone else in the group.

If you asked her personally, Yaoyorozu honestly wasn't in the mood for Mineta, as his recent behavior had been irritating her. And the grape haired boy's mean words against Mina and Kaminari earlier still greatly upset her. But before they announced the plan to meet back at 3pm, she had caught and earful of his muttering. She ignored most of it the little boy's rambles, but then she heard something that made her halt in her tracks. Something that she'd never expect from Mineta.

"Maybe even trauma kits if I'm lucky...Perhaps a gas mask?" Mineta said as he looked around the mall.

Her head snapped in the boy's direction after she heard that last part. Her ponytail almost slapped her face with how fast she turned. Jirou, seeing her friend suddenly look towards Mineta, now was staring towards Mineta as well. Jirou was well known for having pretty good hearing, so it was obvious she caught that as well. Neither of them said anything though.

Trauma Kits? Aren't those the ones usually used only by EMS professionals for really grievous injuries? She didn't like the sound of it. The mention of gas masks weren't reassuring either. What was he planning to do with those kind of items? And why did he need them for the summer camp?

A voice beside her brought her back to the real world. "You alright?" Jirou said from behind Yaoyorozu, noticing her sudden silence. (And the fact that Yaoyorozu had just stopped in her tracks when they were going to get their bags.) She had a good idea what Momo was bothered about though.

The create based quirk girl nodded. She turned towards Mineta, who seemed to shrink the farther he walked away from them. "Yes, but did you hear..."

"What Mineta said? Yeah." Jirou said as she fiddled with one of her ear jacks absentmindedly. "Caught me off guard too. What the hell do you think he's up too?"

The black haired girl sighed. "I don't know. His personality has been all over the place. The week before we studied, he was still just acting perverted. And now...I don't know."

It just screamed wrong. Most of Class A had been aware of the odd change of Mineta, but very few had commented or taken action. She wasn't outright about to accuse him with working with the League Of Villains just because of him acting odd and a bad feeling in her gut. She did want to say something to someone, she didn't like this at all.

She couldn't pin anything on him. Not yet, she didn't have enough evidence. Nodding to Jirou, they headed off to shop and buy themselves some bags and stuff for the camping trip.

After looking for a decent amount of time with no luck, Mineta had given up looking for kits. Now his new plan was buying supplies to make his own homemade trauma kit. Then again, what kind of a mall would be selling hospital quality supplies? A quick search online with his phone of what were usually inside EMS standard trauma kits gave him a good idea of what he should be looking for though.

It was longer (and more painful) process then just buying from someone who happened to sell EMS equipment, but it'd have to do. Mineta knew that he would have to be quick, especially since he hadn't gotten his gas masks yet.

After searching for some time in different shops, he had some luck, because one of the more shadier shops in the less populated section of the mall seemed to be able to hook him up, once he forked up enough cash. (Not to mention the humorous looks he had gotten from the people who shopped there. Then again, a kid buying a bandages, stitches, hydrogen peroxide and other stuff was pretty odd in the first place anyways.

During his search for the meds, he managed to find a store that actually had a gas mask, which was an added bonus. Though the other customers and the owner gave him an odd look for buying such a bulky gas mask. Well, a kid buying an expensive gas mask like that in general is pretty odd. It cut his time here in half, and maybe if he was fast enough, he could swing by the food court and grab a bite to eat.

Satisfied, Mineta began to head to the rendezvous point planned, but was shocked to hear an announcement over the speakers that the mall was to be temporarily closed, (It also apologized for any inconvenience, but the woman over the speakers could not sound any more bored.)

Then it hit him like a semi truck. The realization of the one thing he had forgotten. Midoriya had a run in with that handsy guy, whatever his name was. And was almost killed in front of Uraraka. Mineta facepalmed at his own stupidity.

Oh yeah, oops...

Mineta didn't panic for too long, as he knew that Izuku survived the encounter, only with some bruising to the neck, since mister hands had strangled the poor boy. And the mall had promptly been evacuated. But they never found a hint of the villain, proving he was a sly dog. Mineta guessed that mister hands had his teleport buddy to give him a quick exit. Man, he hated teleport quirks.

The green haired boy was slightly shaken from the experience, but he seemed mentally healthy, Uraraka had been the most relieved out of all the class, borderline crying after suffocating poor Midoriya with a bone crushing hug. Apparently Uraraka had gotten front row seats to watching the hands dude strangle Midoriya. Once he met up with her again the brown haired girl had sobbed into Midoriya's shoulder, afraid that he was going to die. Although he was red as a tomato, Midoriya managed to quickly assure her that he was perfectly fine.

Even though Midoriya was fine, Mineta still felt like an idiot for forgetting. He could of done something, he didn't know what though. Well, it had passed, and everything turned out okay so far, so Mineta didn't feel too guilty.

Much, much, later after the mall...

"The pool?" Midoriya said curiously. When he opened the door to someone knocking on his door, he wasn't expecting Kaminari to offer for him to come to the school pool.
"Yeah! Before the summer camp! We should train together!" Kaminari nodded, seemingly excited. Perhaps Kaminari was trying a bit harder now? Midoriya grinned at the thought of his classmate trying his best, which was expected of all the kids at UA. It'd make Midoriya pretty happy if Kaminari was stepping up. Although on a more depressing note, he was half expecting for Mineta to be standing aside Kaminari. Not anymore, obviously. He wanted to ask, but he had a feeling in his gut that the topic would be a bit sensitive for Kaminari. Especially the fact that he hadn't brought it up by himself at all told Midoriya enough that he didn't want to talk about it.

Though it was a good idea to get some training. Swimming was a great way to get exercise and work most of your muscles. So Midoriya agreed to come. After permission from Aizawa, (And a weird look from the tired Pro Hero,) the two boys headed for the pool after Midoriya texted all the other boys to come as well.

Although he quickly found out that Kaminari that had originally come for the girls in swimsuits. Midoriya just sighed in disappointment. Well, some things never changed. Although Mineta had been acting in a negative manner recently, Midoriya would honestly prefer if Kaminari copied Mineta's new "Not a pervert" thing.

With an encouragement from Iida, who was very thrilled at the fact that this was now apparently training, they raced some, exercised while the girls played volleyball, and were about to have a quirk race in the pool.

Until Aizawa decided to burst in, informing the class that it was 5pm and they had to leave, to the disappointment of the class. One by one, the kids hesitantly walk to the exit, towels draped over their soaked bodies. Mina and Jirou seemed to be the most bummed out about leaving, while some students like Bakugo just didn't really care.

On the bright side, it had been a rather enjoyable day for Midoriya, and the other students seemed to be enjoying themselves as well to his delight. Although he was sad that the fun was over, he was glad that he got to go to the pool with his classmates. Well, most of them.

Although Mineta hadn't shown his face at all today.

After the arrival of the other students earlier that day, Midoriya assumed Mineta just didn't see his message, and he sent him a direct message informing him of the training session.

Earlier that day...

Lying in his bed, Mineta looked blankly at the message that stared back at him. Midoriya was hosting a training session at the pool with Kaminari? Knowing his classmates and how they adored Midoriya (save Bakguo), they'd probably all go to train. But Mineta was well aware that some people probably didn't want him there, and would probably have a more enjoyable time if he was a no show.

Probably the only people would notice his absence would be Midoriya and Sero. Kaminari would too, but he'd probably be happy that Mineta wouldn't be there.

It hurt to think about, and that people seemed to despise him even more now, even if he was trying to stop being perverted. Looks like he wasn't trying hard enough. He turned his phone off and closed his eyes to get a quick power nap. Or a good day sleep if his body's automatic alarm clock didn't wake him up. But for now, he'd try to enjoy the darkness of unconsciousness where he didn't have to worry about anything.

Another rewrite done. The more I go further in the story the easier this gets, which means I'll probably be out of the hiatus faster, so that's a positive. Also added a conversation with Jirou since once I re-read this, I noticed a huge plothole about Jirou not being able to hear Mineta, but Momo could? Makes no sense, so I added that little scene.