Twisted Nightmares

Chapter 18

Friendly Interactions And Anxiety

As Class A spread out to begin their training, Mineta reluctantly began to trail after Kaminari to their secluded spot to train. It was an awkward walk, not many words were said. After Aizawa had dismissed the class, Mineta just followed after Kaminari, not daring to speak a word.

Kaminari reluctantly approached the generator in front of him at their training spot. He was told he was supposed to be shocking the device so he may increase his voltage or whatever. He didn't look forward to being an idiot for a while, because the volts he was about to produce would fry his slightly intelligent part of his brain.

Sounded fun.

Well, at least he'd be improving his quirk. Well, that's what Aizawa said to him when he inquired about the strange exercise he was about to do. Maybe he'd be able to shock a ton without turning into a total dolt. Maybe. Mineta was in his line of sight, but thankfully far away enough that he wouldn't be fried into a crisp by his quirk. He glanced at the machine, and put his hands on it. Here goes...

"Hey...Kaminari?"

A voice made Kaminari halt. He looked at Mineta who was looking at him with an indifferent expression. It wasn't a hostile look, but it wasn't very friendly either. Kaminari softened his expression. At least he's talking to me. "Yeah Mineta? What's up?"

The way Mineta's eyes widened and how he started to rub the back of his head told Kaminari that Mineta definitely didn't expect such a normal response. He didn't blame him, since the tensions after that one day in class had been relatively high since.

"I'm sorry."

Whatever he was going to say, Kaminari completely forgot. He hadn't been expecting that from Mineta. From what he had seen so far, he was pretty sure the grape boy was trying to close himself off from everyone. But this seemed to be a step in the right direction. Still, he'd have to tread carefully. "For what?"

"For how I've been recently. I shouldn't of acted that way towards you and Mina." Mineta said, hesitation clear in his voice. "I haven't really been myself, huh?" His voice was lowered now, and full of guilt.

"Look, Mineta. It's alright." Kaminari finally said, not wanting to make Mineta feel anymore guilty. "But you have seemed a little off since the day Aizawa announced the exams. I just didn't know it was for a reason."

Kaminari noticed how Mineta's eyes immediately pointed towards the ground when he said "reason". Probably touched a nerve... Kaminari thought nervously.

Quickly trying to repair the damage he has supposedly caused, Kaminari put his hands up. "But, I'm glad you're apologizing! It means you're comfortable enough to talk to people, right? That's a step in the right direction. I won't push you for answers man. Take your time. Just..." Kaminari sighed. "Just talk to us more, alright?"

Mineta nodded. "Yeah...Th-thanks Kaminari."

He sounded genuine, which helped lift Kaminari's spirits a bit more. He simply smiled. "Alright, I'm gonna start this awful training thing for my quirk, you should probably stand just a few more feet back. just in case. The training could actually work and my shock radius increases or something. Don't want you getting shocked man." He said with a slight grin on his face. Was he already sweating? Either it was from the sun, or he was so nervous about the fact he could be possibly frying himself from the training exercise.

Before turning back to the machine, he took note of Mineta getting on his knees and begin to pull grapes off of his head, and began to stack them very neatly into a pile that resembled a pyramid. Iida would of loved to see something like that. Organized stuff was probably in "Iida's Top 10 Things He Loved" or something.

Hesitantly putting his hands on the device once more, he felt the slightly cool metal on the machine. It would slowly warm up as the day went by, so he hope he didn't have to train that long. Touching metal after it's spent a long day in the sun, eugh. Kaminari would rather shake hands with Torodoki with his left hand. Well, no use in delaying the inevitable.Bracing himself, he took a deep breath, and began to charge volts through his body.

Here goes nothing...

As he trained, Midoriya noticed from the corner of his eyes that there was a concerning lack of movement or activity from Kaminari's training spot. Had something happened? It didn't look like anything was happening, actually. There was a surprisingly lack of activity up there. Wasn't his friend supposed to exercise his quirk by creating huge shock waves or something? And wasn't Mineta supposed to be there as well? He remembered very well that Aizawa had assigned Mineta to be watched over by Kaminari, since the electric boy had decided to volunteer, which honestly took him by complete surprise.

But he was glad Kaminari had volunteered though, maybe Mineta would open up, right? Still, he had to take a quick look to talk to them. After getting Aizawa's blessing after he explained to the Pro Hero why he was leaving his training spot, Midoriya lightly jogged over to the small hill. As he approached the area, he heard some voices.

"I'm sorry, Kaminari."

Midoriya halted his advance up to the small platform where Kaminari and Mineta were supposedly standing on. That sounded like Mineta... was he finally apologizing?

His curiosity held him fast, and he didn't dare to move a single inch more.

Midoriya strained to hear the conversation continue, as he heard Mineta explain himself. He was happy to hear Mineta finally apologizing for his behavior, don't get him wrong. But what got Midoriya's nerves so wracked was waiting for Kaminari to respond. Would he forgive him? He volunteered to watch over Mineta, right? What if something happens?

"Look, it's alright Mineta."

His tense muscles relaxed, and Midoriya smiled. Perhaps today wasn't going to be so bad after all. Hearing them finally talk and apologize was the best thing that probably happened today. Walking back to his spot, he gave Aizawa a thumbs up, which Aizawa just responded with a nod. He didn't seem to notice Aizawa's raised eyebrow at the fact Midoriya had his blinding smile again.

As Midoriya walked away, Aizawa took this time to put some more eye drops in. Looking at Midoriya while he had his huge smile plastered on his face... it was kind of like looking into floodlights at point blank. Even in broad daylight that smile seemed to blind anyone foolish enough to look at him.

As he walked back to his spot, Midoriya couldn't explain why, but he felt significantly more confident as he began to train one more. He was going to try his best! And who knows, maybe Mineta would open up more to them when they ate their meal later today. If they were allowed to have dinner, that is. Knowing Aizawa, they'd have to earn their meal.

The entire Class B stared in horror at what Class A was currently going through. They had been woken up at a decent time by their teacher, Vlad King, who informed him of that it was time to train. Even though half of them were half asleep, and borderline falling to the ground. As they walked towards the training area, Vlad King explained that they had to train or something. It seemed pretty normal stuff, along with the rivalry between A and B. Only when they actually arrived, they saw the true horror of the training.

What Aizawa called "training" seemed to be more like a living hell. Half of Class A was shrieking or groaning in pain as they were putting their quirks to the very max. The students who's quirks made a specific object or creating something were scene pumping out their specific object. Mineta was ripping off multiple of his grapes and piling them neatly as they stuck together, it almost looked like a pyramid. Blood was dripping from his head, but his expression was that of determination.

Yaoyorozu was shoving food into her mouth, as her quirk required her to eat to create objects. The stuff she created currently was stacked on to the table she stood next to.

Sato stood by her, using the same table to eat cake. He didn't create anything, but he still needed sugary foods as well to increase his strength. He also needed to be simultaneously lifting weights to counter the ungodly amount of calories from the sugary cake he was devouring. Mina, Sero, Bakugo, Aoyama, and Todoroki were all forced to continuously produce their quirk the entire time. Most of them were either screaming, making pitiful whimpers, or borderline crying from the pain.

BOOM

"SHIT!"

Well, save Bakugo. He just cursed every time he let off an explosion. Screaming or crying was "for weak sidekicks who can't handle the pain" or something like that.

And Todoroki actually didn't make any sounds of pain, just panted heavily as he let off ice and fire over and over again, the air in his general vicinity rapidly changing temperature each time he switched to the other quirk.

Literal hell indeed.

"How do they keep track of 40 students?" Class B student Kendo said as her classmates watched Class A suffer as they trained their quirks. She realized once combined with class A they'd have 40 in total. Seems like a lot for the small amount of teachers.

Aizawa walked towards them, completely ignoring Bakugo's massive explosion and the cursing that followed shortly after.

"That's why they're here."

On cue, Ragdoll suddenly seemed to have materialized in front of Aizawa, and she did her intro with the other Pussycats introducing the "Wild Wild Pussycats: Full Version" just like they did with Class A. Once more they introduced themselves and their quirks, and how their quirks worked. Tiger was still pretty scary with his eyes that seemed to almost glow red. Ragdoll's smile seemed to be even bigger then it was earlier, if that was possible. Although the red glow from Tiger was a bit less scary since the sun was completely out, it's cheerful rays bathing everyone in glow.

As Midoriya began to face off against Tiger (And get his ass handed to him), Class B knew that today was probably not going to be an easy, or a pleasant day.

Both Class A and B were completely spent from their training that day. The sun was beginning to go down, as the blue sky was becoming a dull orange. What awaited them... was something they didn't want to see.

Instead of the doors open for them to go to the dining hall, multiple wooden tables were neatly set up outside, and multiple unlit fireplaces. Most likely to cook something. One of the larger tables sat a huge amount of food supplies, including fruits, vegetables, and meats. Spices also accompanied the package, while two figures stood behind the table.

Pixie and Ragdoll were standing there, with huge smiles plastered on their faces. Their grins seemed deceiving, as their grins promised something that wasn't free food.

The blue clad Pussycat gestured to the humongous table of food supplies. "Now! Remember what I said yesterday? We're not making you guys food anymore!"

"If you guys want to eat, you could at least make your own meals!" Ragdoll chimed in. "Curry!"

The exhausted students of Class A and B all sighed in. "Yes ma'am..." the students said simultaneously.

Their lack of energy elicited loud laughter from Ragdoll. She hopped around in amusement. "You guys look sooo exhausted! But that doesn't mean you can just make any old sloppy cat food!" Tears of amusement seemed to be threatening to leak from her eyes.

Was the suffering of children that amusing to her? Mineta blew a raspberry at Ragdoll's overenthusiastic attitude towards the students having to cook themselves meals. It wasn't that funny. Mineta was pretty sure some blood was still dropping down from his head, that exercise was still awful.

He prepared himself for a sudden raise in volume, because just like last time, Iida seemed to brighten up a little. He had his hand on his chin, deep in thought.

Inspirational speech in 3, 2, 1...

Iida suddenly lit up like a lightbulb. "I see! It's true that rescuing someone is part of filling the stomachs and spirits of those exhausted during a disaster! That's UA for you! No opportunity wasted!" He turned to the exhausted swarm of students, who all still looked pretty deflated. "Everyone! Let's make the most delicious curry in the world everyone!"

"Okay..." the students said in probably the world's most unenthusiastic way. They were all clearly still exhausted from the training session, but had no choice if they wanted to eat.

Mineta saw Aizawa's blank expression at Iida's actions, but he knew the Pro Hero probably was probably very appreciative of Iida gathering the classes to work together.

"Thanks for the food!"

Mineta watched in mild amusement as Kirishima and Sero started to shovel food into their mouths once more, although a bit messier since the food was made by their own hand. They still seemed to love it, although not as much as the Pussycat's cooking. At least Kirishima's not dumping the bowl sideways to get more food into his mouth. Mineta thought. How did the red head keep the rice in the bowl yesterday anyways?

"Man, training was awful!" Kaminari said from Mineta's right. Mineta had placed himself at the end of the table, and Kaminari and Mina sat by him. They were shoveling food into their mouths as well, but not as violently as some other students such as Kaminari, Sero, and Bakugo. Although Bakugo was just shoveling because he was angry because he blew up one of the fireplaces in front of everyone. Pretty embarrassing stuff.

"At least you didn't stay a dolt as long as last time!" Mina said cheerfully, she also was eating her meal at a sociably acceptable rate. Her voice was still muffled, as she spoke with her mouth full, so it sounded more like "At weast you bibn't spay a bolt af wong af wast tiem!"

Kaminari still understood it though. "Yeah..." His face was slightly red now, still embarrassed from turning into an idiot from overusing his quirk. Before they ate, Mineta hesitantly apologized to Mina. The pink girl had taken it surprisingly well. She told him it was alright, and gave him a little head pat.

Nothing seemed to bother that girl for long, that's for sure.

"Mina does have a point though," Mineta spoke up. "The time you stay stupid has shrunken at an exponential rate ."

Exponential. Damn that's a fancy word. I should use it more often.

Mina also picked up on the unusual wording, and almost spat out her food. She turned to him, giggling. "Exponential rate? What's with this new vocabulary?" She had a smile on her face.

He shrugged innocently. "Sounded smart."

"You've been spending too much time around Iida, cuz I think he's starting to rub off on you." Her grin seemed to be twice as large now.

The grape haired boy put his hands up in defense. "Hey, nothing wrong with using fancy words. Makes me sound intelligent, and sophisticated."

Mina giggled. "Sophisticated? It makes you sound like a dork, and that's Midoriya's job. Bless his innocent little heart though."

Mineta glanced at an empty spot at Mina's mention of Midoriya. The green haired boy had a free spot open on the opposite side of the table. The spot happened to be right by Uraraka, coincidentally. Midoriya had yet to be seen though. It seemed as he was still getting his food, although he was taking longer than Mina and Kaminari expected. Last time he was here, he sat at a completely different area on the table.

Kaminari played with the food in his bowl with his chopstick. "Still, Aizawa's training hopefully accomplished its purpose. Other than y'know, not being an idiot for too long, I hope my voltage goes up! It'll make me stronger, and the more villains I can one hit!"

Mina put down her spoon and absentmindedly rubbed at her hands. "Yeah...still using my acid for so long hurt pretty bad, especially when I had to control how corrosive it was. My hands were hurting for so long. I really hope it won't hurt as much when I finally get it to it's highest potential." Her slight frown turned into a smile once more. " I probably won't master it by the end of the camp though!" Mina said as she continued to eat her meal.

Mineta raised both eyebrows at her upbeat tone. "You sound pretty cheerful about that Mina." He said, then slammed a hand over his mouth. "Uh, sorry! That was kind of a mean thing-"

"Boem'p wowwy 'boub it!" Mina said, mouth full of food once more.

Mineta was pretty sure she said "Don't worry about it" but he couldn't be sure. "Uh, really? Because I shouldn't of said that."

"I know I have a lot to improve." Mina said, a bit more solemn now. Her beaming smile seemed to have receded a bit. "The exams taught me that. I was feeling pretty sorry for myself for a while..."

"Until!" Kaminari butted in."Midoriya gave us a little talk a few days after the exam. He said that nobody was perfect, it's what makes us human!"

Mina's smile seemed to have returned a bit as well. "Yeah! He said that we would be great heroes! We should never give up! We just have to keep trying!"

Mineta had a small smile as well. "Did he say Plus Ultra too?"

"He did!" Mina and Kaminari exclaimed simultaneously.

Mineta wasn't surprised at that. Midoriya was an innocent one, and would always try to mend anything bad that happened to his classmates. It was obvious Midoriya cared very deeply for the well being of his classmates, that was for sure.

"Speaking of Midoriya," Mina said, looking around the area with a curious expression. "Where is our broccoli boy? Haven't seen him yet." Her mouth was full of food once more, so in reality...

"Were if are broggowi boi? Habmp feem him yet."

Mineta shrugged. "Beats me, I saved him a spot by Uraraka, he hasn't shown his face at all." He said, glancing at the empty spot.

Kaminari looked at him with a slightly surprised look on his face. "You actually understood that Mineta? That was a tough one to decipher!" Kaminari said, ignoring the glare Mina gave him.

Mineta nodded. "Lucky guess." He felt a little guilty for lying, he knew very well Midoriya had wandered off after Koda. Mineta remembered last time how Kota just trotted off, obviously angry at something. The green haired boy had chased after him, with some food in his hands. When he returned, the food was gone. It was obvious that Midoriya had selflessly given the food to the kid, even though Midoriya most likely needed it more.

It was pretty awkward now. No topics came to mind to discuss, so the three students sat and ate in silence. The only sound to keep their minds occupied was the idle chatter of the other students that sat around them. They idly heard Sero make an unintentionally mean comment about Yaoyorozu's quirk which resulted in Jirou giving him a good slap in the face.

After some time, Midoriya returned, although most of the people were already finishing up. Uraraka however seemed to have taken her time with eating, which was odd to Mineta. She usually didn't eat that slow, did she?

Only it was when Midoriya returned, that Mineta put two and two together, for the way Uraraka's face lit up when Midoriya plopped down by her, a new bowl of curry for himself. Midoriya also seemed to light up as well when Uraraka greeted him enthusiastically. He seemed to enjoy her presence just as much as she liked his.

Mineta shrugged at the obvious future couple. He wouldn't judge him. Ah. I don't blame him. Every man needs his waifu, or there's no point to his laifu. He held in a giggle at that thought. Where did that come from?

Mineta quickly finished his meal, and decided to retire for the night. After his friends finished, Mina and Uraraka parted ways with the boys and they went to their respective cabins.

Mineta trotted along with his friends, although a bit nervous expression on his face. Which his friends clearly caught on to.

"Hey, what's wrong Mineta?" Kaminari said softly. Midoriya had noticed as well now.

Mineta shuffled awkwardly. "I uh...I'm just nervous for tomorrow." And it was the truth. Tomorrow was the night where he was murdered. By that one guy with the salt block, and the fancy glasses. The memories began to come back again.

"Stay with us, Mineta!"

He desperately grabbed at the gaping wound in his chest, he tried not to scream as the jagged ends of his ribs punctured several organs.

He shivered. "Really nervous." Villains were not to be underestimated at all, he learned the hard way. Mineta's negative thinking was halted by a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Midoriya with his smiles, although luckily it was a rather small smile. Just a medium grin, not his beaming smile that would probably melt his eyes out.

"Don't worry Mineta! You'll do fine! We all will do fine if we give our 100% tomorrow during training!" Midoriya said cheerfully, giving Mineta a thumbs up.

Kaminari rolled his eyes at Midoriya's blinding optimism, but the he was smiling as well. "Yeah, he's right Mineta. We'll be A okay tomorrow, just be more confident in yourself man! You're more capable then you think."

Mineta felt mostly comforted by his friend's words, although the beads of sweat were still coming down his face. He still could remember the sickening crackas the villain rammed his item into Mineta's little chest, fatally incapacitating him instantly. It was unsettling how easily villains were willing to kill people. It was always bothered him. Human lives were not to be taken so carelessly.

"Yeah. You're right." Mineta gave a hopefully convincing smile to them. "Let's go, I'm exhausted."

As his friends and classmates all went to their respective cabins, and curled up in their sleeping bags, all seemed to be peaceful.

It wouldn't be for long though.

"Ugh, I don't like this! It's definitely not cute!" A blond girl grumbled, fumbling with the black mask over her mouth. The mask slightly muffled her voice. Her blonde hair was in two little buns, but frayed strands of hair still stuck out, as if the hair job had been rushed.

Beside her, a man completely dressed from head to toe stood at her side. "They were engineered for the black market from what I hear. As long as it functions correctly, appearances really don't matter."

His words did little to comfort her. "Ugh, I'm just saying! It's not my style!" She waved her arms up and down as she tried to adjust to the rather odd fit of the mask.

"Hi! Sorry we're late!"

"Work...work..."

A man with black hair did not even bother turning around to address the newcomers. "That makes seven."

A taller man with a large hood on stood by him. "I don't care...Lemme at 'em."

The black haired one rolled his eyes. "Shut up, you crazy bastard." Dealing with these odd comrades was going to be a pain. How had he gotten so low to work with these weirdos?

But they'd accomplish their mission either way. Because the student's peace was in the villain's hands now.

As the day started, it was mostly a blur. Things seemed to go by a lot quicker than last time, probably since the daytime training was kind of like yesterday's. Nothing really stuck out except for the students who failed the exams were currently under Aizawa's wrath.

The failed students were then told to train after the scolding. Mineta remembered conversing with his friends a little before training, and more with Kaminari, since they trained right by each other. They discussed stuff back at UA, girls, and what the rest of the training camp would be like. Mineta knew well that this was probably their last day at the camp, hopefully. They wouldn't force them to stay after an attack on the camp, right?

As the sun began to go down, they began to cook for themselves once more. Pretty normal stuff, as the students chopped and grounded their ingredients to put in the fire, nothing really extraordinary happened. Although a brief conversation about Kota between Midoriya and Todoroki happened once more, that was basically it.

After they ate, the Class A and B students were grouped up by the Pussycat's. They explained the training session was to be "A Test Of Courage" and they were encouraged to use their quirks to stoke their fears, which Iida oddly approved of.

As the first few groups went out, Midoriya noticed a shivering Mineta. The poor boy was obviously not looking forward for his turn to go out and be scared, but this was a bit much. He seemed pretty nervous. Beads of sweat ran down his head, and his breathing was a bit quicker than normal.

"Hey, it's alright Mineta, it's just an activity! We'll do the exercise and then we all get to bed. It'll be fine, I promise!" He said, flashing a hopeful smile at the grape boy.

Mineta seemed to go absolutely still. He turned towards Midoriya, the dull look in his eyes unnerved the green haired boy. Mineta just shook his head softly.

"No. No it won't."

Fixed some paragraphs, which is what I'll do to the other chapters as well. If you liked this, please Review/Follow/Fav! Really helps me out!