Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
Vlad King's Green Bean
Chapter twenty-six: The work studies
The students of Class 1-B were making their way outside to attend the opening ceremony for the second semester, with Izuku and Itsuka, respectively being the class rep and class vice rep for 1-B, leading the way given Sekijiro was there ahead of time to help out. As the twenty students of 1-B made their way, they were met up by the students of Class 1-A. "Ah, 1-A," Itsuka greeted, "How are you guys doing? Excited for the opening ceremony, are you?"
Letting out a sigh, Yaoyorozu replied, "It'd be a lie to say that we're excited. Aizawa-sensei gave us yet another reading of the riot act, not to mention the fact that he's barred Tokoyami and later Uraraka from attending the opening ceremony."
"Wait a minute, he's barred them from attending?" Izuku asked, "Why? Are they both feeling unwell? Because that's the only reason a student can miss the opening ceremony according to Kan-sensei."
"No, Deku," Bakugo spoke up, "Birdbrain's living quirk called Aizawa-sensei out over his treatment of us, and then Round Face attempted to talk back at Aizawa-sensei when he first barred Birdbrain from attending the ceremony."
Bakugo's explanation instantly drew concern from some of the 1-B students. "...Bad behavior or not," Itsuka began, sounding like she wasn't entirely sure if Tokoyami and Uraraka could honestly be held responsible for their 'bad behavior', "Unless they're physically unwell enough to the point that attending wouldn't help them recover, then Tokoyami and Uraraka attending the opening ceremony is mandatory. Did any of you point this out to your teacher?"
"I did," Yaoyorozu replied, "But Aizawa-sensei told me to just worry about leading the rest of the class to the opening ceremony."
The mood among the first-year hero course students dropped a bit, but perked back up somewhat when Pony said, "Hey, umm, blonde boy who talked to me and Midoriya last night by the dumpsters."
Bakugo, knowing that Pony meant him, perked up instantly. "What's up, Tsunotori?"
"Thanks again for expressing your concern for me, Midoriya, and our classmates last night given we also went through that attack at the Provisional Licence Exams," Pony spoke up, "Also, thanks for apologizing for your teacher being mean."
Kaminari, with an amused smirk on his face, remarked, "Well well well, Bakugo! It's rare to see you act nice to anyone, even those within our class. And yet you're acting courteous towards Tsunotori in 1-B."
"It's called being a gentleman, Drooly!" Bakugo snapped at the electric quirk user.
"There's the Bakugo we all know and love!" Sero said, playful amusement in his expression.
Gesturing for everyone to continue, Izuku said, "Let's... just all continue to the opening ceremony." At Izuku's prompting, everyone who was there continued to make their way out to attend the opening ceremony.
Outside, more or less every UA student was standing around, as if in formation, in front of a small stage on which Nezu standing behind a podium (while standing on a stool) was addressing the students about how life at UA will work now that it's a boarding school and other such changes that will come with the new semester. The green haired boy nervously glanced around, worried about how Tokoyami and Uraraka were both barred from the opening ceremony, as well as wondering if Aizawa was somehow secretly keeping tabs on him, given that he had made it quite clear that he has displeasure with him.
The students were all standing around, with a fair bit of UA's staff on the small stage standing behind Nezu. Nezu himself aside, there was also Sekijiro, Ryo, Toshinori, and a few others. Izuku didn't see Aizawa up there, further concerning him that the underground hero was secretly monitoring him out of his overblown irrational hatred he's got towards him. Eventually, the opening ceremony came to a close, and the students were released to go back to their dorms to gather their things and get ready to head off to their classes. This saw Izuku, with Itsuka following along, leading 1-B back to their dorm.
As the students all filed out, one third year blonde haired boy mused aloud to two of his year mates, "Hey, I heard that some first years were talking to one another by some dumpsters last night about the attack that occurred during the Provisional Licence Exams."
"I got some details on that," the dark haired boy remarked, "A boy from 1-A was expressing concern for his peers in 1-B."
"Speaking of 1-A," the lone girl in the group, actually that Nejire girl who was previously seen caring for Eri, spoke up, "I heard rumors that two of its students couldn't make it to the opening ceremony. They must be feeling unwell since Principal Nezu made it mandatory to attend the opening ceremony and he'd only accept a student confirmed to be feeling unwell as an excuse for said student to miss it."
The blonde boy had a curious look on his face. "...I got a gut feeling that there's more than meets the eye here. Regardless, I feel that seeing Class 1-A either way ought to be warranted here. What say you guys?"
...
"As of today, normal class activities will be resumed."
The 1-A students, after they all got back to class, were sitting at their desks as Aizawa was telling them about how things will be going. "But don't go thinking that it'll be a picnic like things were last semester," Aizawa droned on, "The training is going to be tougher than ever."
A fair number of the 1-A students feel that Aizawa calling the previous semester a 'picnic' was either severely underselling the previous semester, or a foreboding warning that things are only going to be getting worse for them. Either way, Mahou raised a hand before asking, "Hey Aizawa-sensei, I'm curious about all of the talk made about that work studies business I heard about."
"A fair enough question," replied the underground hero, "The work studies are a more formalized version of the field training you did under pro heroes prior to the finals. Normally, it's an opportunity to make use of connections with pro heroes made in light of the UA Sports Festival, but as the Festival didn't occur this year for security reasons, you all will have to rely on the results of the special examinations you did prior to the first round of field training you all did."
Holding up a hand, Shizuo said, "Uhh, I didn't get any of that experience since I was added to 1-A literally immediately after that first round of field training."
"Nezu has already recommended you to some pro heroes he feels will be good fits in mentoring you in the field," Aizawa said, "And given that it's Nezu who made those recommendations, you're bound to have a few pro heroes arguing over who gets to mentor you. Being the principal of UA gives Nezu certain perks and bits of influence." Aizawa then went on about how, given 1-A all has their provisional licences, they're able to participate in the formal, longer term activities, but he did expect them to write up reports about their experiences.
Aizawa then left, letting Hizashi take over to begin the lesson for the day for the subject he teaches.
That evening over in Class 1-B's dorm building, Izuku after having finished what all homework he had and figuring that he had time to hang with his classmates before they all had to turn in for the night. The work studies were about to start, and Izuku was worried about how well he'd fair, especially since he got it in advance from Gran Torino that he couldn't take Izuku again for various reasons. The other students in 1-B were probably also worried about how they'd fair in getting internship offers, so the green haired boy figured he'd see how they're doing.
The first thing he saw upon getting to the ground floor was Itsuka holding Setsuna back with a full nelson to keep her from getting to Nirengeki who stood with Yosetsu and Juzo, while Setsuna said to the somewhat short boy, "Come at me bro!"
"What's... what's going on?" Izuku asked, glad to see than things were, at least by the standards of 1-B, calm and relaxed from worry, "Why is Tokage trying to get into an altercation with Nirengeki?"
"He heated up and ate a frozen burrito that Setsuna was saving for herself," Yosetsu explained, "Without knowing that it was being saved by anyone in particular."
"This is what Kan-sensei warned us about, Tokage!" Nirengeki exclaimed, "If we don't label things we're saving, anything unlabeled will be at risk of being eaten!"
"You should have asked!" Setsuna snapped.
"You should have labeled it!" Nirengeki snapped back.
Given that this argument over frozen burritos was the worst worry that 1-B is dealing with, Izuku felt at least a little better, given that it showed that his classmates weren't letting big things get to them. It gave him some leeway to look into trying to see if any of the pro heroes who expressed interest in him during the first round of work studies would be willing to take him this time around. He still had the contacts of some top offers; maybe he can get a hold of one of them and ask if they'd be willing to take him for the work studies.
...
Three days later, Izuku was getting back to his dorm after taking out some trash when he was called out to by a female voice. "Hey! You're that green haired boy that I heard about from Ryukyu!" Turning about, Izuku eventually spotted Nejire come walking up to him; he didn't know who she was aside from that time he saw her with a sick looking little girl. But he did pay attention to Nejire coming up to talk to him, especially since she mentioned by name Ryukyu, one of the top ranked pro heroes who Izuku remembered sent him an internship offer during the first internships.
"You know the Dragon Hero?" Izuku asked.
Nodding in the affirmative, Nejire replied, "I've been interning under her ever since my first year here! Oh, I don't think you have my name." Gesturing to herself, Nejire said, "The name's Nejire Hado."
Izuku nodded once to who he know could identify as Nejire. "You're that third year student with that sick little girl while looking for the Class 1-A homeroom teacher."
"That's me," Nejire confirmed, "But that's besides the point right now." Gesturing to Izuku, Nejire said, "The work studies are starting up soon, and Ryukyu still has some open spots for interns. She's still got some interest in you, so she asked me to look into seeing if you can be convinced this time."
"Actually, funny about that," Izuku replied, "I've been worried about finding a pro hero to offer me an internship since the last hero that I interned under can't take me this time around. If Ryukyu is willing to take me, then tell her that I'll accept."
Nejire jumped up before letting out a cheer. "Awesome! Trust me, Ryukyu is, like, totes the best pro hero to work under! You won't regret it!"
"Umm," Izuku began, "Do I need to, like, see her to take care of some official issues of business before I can start working under her?"
Gently shaking her head, Nejire said, "No need to worry about small details like that. Just come with me after the work studies officially start, I'll lead you and the possible one other intern right over to Ryukyu's agency so official stuff like that can be taken care of so we can-"
*beep* *beep* *beep*
Nejire stopped short when she and Izuku heard a beeping noise; pulling out a phone, Nejire saw the time. "Aww geez!" Nejire said, "I need to meet up with Tamaki and Mirio to talk to the 1-A students!" Putting her phone away, Nejire said to Izuku, "I'll see you later!" The third year girl then took off, leaving Izuku alone.
Izuku was curious about that Nejire girl, who seemed rather energetic and excitable. He was also curious about that sick little girl that Nejire had with her that one time, as well as Nejire saying something about her and two of her friends going to see the 1-A students about something. Izuku dismissed that last one as probably being just Nejire and her friends trying to be good senpais to the 1-A students. Either way, Izuku was relieved since his worries about finding an intership had just been taken care of, so Izuku proceeded to make his way right back to his class's dorm.
A short while later, Izuku was back in the 1-B dorm, putting away what all homework he had as he finished it. Since he had spare time now, he figured that he had time to see what all his classmates were up to. As such, he made his way down to the ground floor of the 1-B dorm building. Upon arriving, he saw the girls in his class all talking to one another, clearly over an important subject.
"Hey girls," Izuku began, cutting them off from their talking and making them all turn to see him, "What's-"
Izuku was immediately cut off when the girls all rushed him, expectant looks on their faces. "Midoriya!" Itsuka practically exclaimed, "We got it from Honeyuki, Awase, and Shoda that you said something to them about talking to a girl named Nejire Hado! Is that true?! Did you really talk to Nejire-senpai?!"
The green haired boy looked a bit surprised by the girls in his class apparently hounding him for whatever info they could get out of him about Nejire. "...Uhh, yeah," Izuku replied, "She told me that the pro hero who employs her as an intern was interested in employing me as well during the work studies that are coming up, and I was looking to find some work during that time, so I acce-"
"You're going to be working alongside Nejire-senpai?!" Yui exclaimed, "Midoriya, you lucky bastard!"
Izuku was getting more and more surprised, especially since the normally quiet Yui is just as loud and excitable right now as Itsuka and the other girls. "Is... is that really that big of a deal?"
Seeing that she and the other girls were making Izuku freak out, Itsuka got the all to relax and back off a bit. "...Nejire-senpai is... kind of a big deal among all of the underclassmen girls here at UA," Itsuka began to explain, "Not only is she one of the most popular girls here at UA, she's also a member of the Big Three."
"The Big Three?"
"A trio of third year students in UA's hero course who are widely regarded as already ready to go pro," Setsuna went on, showing a rare (for her at least) aura of being serious, "With many saying they can even break into the Top Ten within their first year of pro heroism. There's even talk that one of them might have what it takes to be the next number one!"
Izuku was rather surprised to hear all of that; so Nejire-senpai is really one of the best and finest that UA's hero course has to offer. And there's even talk that either she or one of the other two in this 'Big Three' group has what it takes to become the next number one hero. Izuku wondered what, if it's not Nejire-senpai, this third year student who has what it takes to be the next number one hero was like.
...
"POWER!"
Over at Gym Gamma, UA third year Mirio Togata, while not wearing any sort of top, stood victoriously over the entirety of Class 1-A, all twenty of them laying on the floor of Gym Gamma in defeat. Granted, Mirio did have some brusing, but it was minor at best, and he can fix it simply by walking it off. As the 1-A students got up after their defeat at Mirio's hands, Tamaki Amajiki said, "You know, you could have sandbagged them at least a little. They all look like they've been smacked around like they were a bunch of pinballs."
Chuckling in embarrassment, Mirio said, "Heh he, sorry. I guess I got a bit carried away, especially since they actually proved to be a challenge because they were able to actually land hits on me."
"Yeah, but only because Shinso brainwashed you into standing still and not use that overpowered quirk of yours the first time," Yamamaya cried out, "And Kurota charmed you into doing the same the second time! You taking them out after those times sealed our doom!"
"The fuck was all that popping in and out like a deranged nudist jack in the box?!" Bakugo snapped, holding his arms over his bruised stomach.
"Mirio's clothing can't permeate with him when he uses his Permeation quirk," Nejire explained, "And it didn't start out as overpowered as Yamamaya is making it sound."
Mirio nodded in confirmation. "That's right. The reason why my Permeation quirk as strong as it is now is due to the fact that I made it that way thanks to all of the experience I gained through the work studies." Gesturing to Class 1-A, Mirio went on, "That's why I challenged you to a twenty-versus-one fight, 1-A. To show you what all can happen if you take on the work studies with everything you've got!"
From where he stood having watched the whole fight, Aizawa nodded in approval. "Togata's got a point, brats. If he was able to take his originally weak quirk that has drawbacks and turn it into the powerhouse that he had used just now to defeat all of you thanks to experience gained from working in the work studies, then just imagine what all you can do with your quirks if you all do the same thing as him."
It was clear top all of 1-A, even the most hard to convince and stubborn members, that their hardass teacher who many of them were feeling fed up with was making a valid point. If one student with lots of experience from the work studies was able to defeat all twenty of them in a twenty-versus-one affair, then they would all have to give the work studies as much of a go as they could manage.
As the 1-A students were trying to catch their breath, Mirio, with a curious look on his face, took a step up to the 1-A students. "Hey, I heard a short while ago that one of you expressed concerns to those kids over in 1-B, talking to them by some dumpsters."
Pointing a shaky finger at Bakugo, Kaminari said, "Yeah, that would be Bakugo here."
"Bakugo, huh?" Mirio said, turning to look at the explosive teen in question. After looking at him, Mirio shrugged. "...Huh. I thought that the 1-A student expressing concern to the 1-B students would be your classmate Midoriya."
"You mean Deku?" Bakugo asked, looking surprised as he looked up, "He ain't in 1-A Tin-Tin, he's in 1-B. Hell, he's one of the two that I talked to during the incident you're asking about."
"He's a 1-B student?" Mirio said, "Huh. I guess that I was wrong then."
Aizawa, curious now that Mirio was suddenly asking about Izuku, stepped forward. "You have an interest in Midoriya, Togata?"
Nodding in the affirmative, Mirio explained, "I got it that he's a really promising first year, and part of why Tamaki, Nejire, and I came to speak with your class is because I had thought Midoriya was one of your students, and I was hoping to test him out when I challenged your class. I just assumed that Midoriya was a student in your class because of how promising I hear he is, and your class has been in the news a lot."
Not wanting to show his annoyance, Aizawa internally scowled. "Midoriya is one of the students under Kan in Class 1-B."
"And we don't really have the time to speak with 1-B before the work studies start," Mirio remarked. Snapping his fingers in disappointment, Mirio said, "Dang it." After a few more topics were covered, Class 1-A was allowed to head back to their dorm, where they would ll be licking their wounds from the beating that all twenty of them got from their upperclassman.
After the 1-A students had taken off, Mirio, Tamaki, and Nejire took off with Aizawa's blessing, although the underground hero was curious about Mirio's surprise interest in Midoriya. As the Big Three took off, Mirio said to Tamaki and Nejire, "That Midoriya kid is as elusive as he is impressive, if what all I heard about him being impressive is true."
"Wow, it's rare to see you take an interest like this in one of our kouhais," Nejire remarked.
Tamaki scowled in worry. "What are you up to, dude?"
"Oh, Sir is actually interested in seeing Midoriya," Mirio explained, "But he wouldn't go into detail about why. All I got is that apparently, Midoriya has something to do with All Might."
Nejire nodded in understanding. "Fair enough." Turning to look skyward as she walked with her friends, Nejire remarked, "You know, I get the feeling that the work studies that are coming up will be wholly uneventful. It'll be just a peaceful time were we can train and bond with our kouhais."
"Alright, you got us out here. What the hell is it that you jokers wanna talk about?"
It was nighttime elsewhere in the city when Dabi, with most of the League of Villains backing him, were confronting what was left of the Shie Hassaikai their elite guard, the Eight Bullets. Headed by Chronostasis and backed by Mimic, and those two were leading Shin Nemoto, Rikiya Katsukame, Toya Setsuno, Yu Hojo, Soramitsu Tabe, Hekiji Tengai, and finally Deidoro Sakaki. It had been Dabi himself who spoke to the Shie Hassaikai.
Chronostasis stepped forward. "It's been confirmed in the news that your founder All For One is dead, and that you guys have little more beyond a warehouse similar to this one as a hideout." Gently shaking his head, Chronostasis said, "You League of Villains lot have fallen on hard times, it would seem."
"Well aren't you one to talk," Mr. Compress said dryly as he gestured to Chronostasis, "Your organization is on the verge of falling apart. You've lost power, your influence in the Japanese criminal and villainous underworld is bleeding out, the threat you're able to pose as a whole has been de-fanged-"
Pointing wildly at where Rappa stood behind Dabi, Setsuno screamed, "Yeah, all because that traitor took what all we had that was making our threatening fangs and ran off with the lot!"
"Do you bastards not care what that little shit Overhaul was doing with a little girl?!" Rappa snapped back, "That's no way to treat a kid!"
Gesturing to Dabi, Chronostasis said, "You had allowed your follower Felgrand to get away with killing two more of your followers, Muscular and Moonfish. Did you not even give him at least a warning?"
Dabi gave an indifferent shrug. "Muscular had proven to be a loose cannon that I couldn't honestly trust. The loss of Moonfish is more regrettable, even though he was still creepy as all get out."
Hekiji stepped forward. "Even if they were a loose cannon and creepy respectively, their deaths were terrible wastes. They were powerful pawns that could have served you well."
Rappa scoffed in disgusted annoyance. "Oh, like how the girl is a valuable pawn?" Rappa said in a clearly sarcastic tone.
"There's a lot to be gained from using the unique blood and power of young Eri," Chronostasis spoke up, "We could rule the Japanese criminal and villainous underworld with what all we can get out of her."
Shrugging, Magne replied, "Well I fail to see how you'll get that little sweetie back, especially given that she's in the protective custody of the heroes." Pointing at the Shie Hassaikai, Magne went on, "That, plus the fact Rappa took everything that was made from that sweetie's blood, means that not only have you all been de-fanged, you also can't grow your fangs back."
Rappa nodded in agreement. "Yeah, the only good thing about that child abusing prick Overhaul was the fact that he kept track of every last item, kept it all in a compiled list. Thanks to that, I know that I got everything, save for three Quirk Destroying bullets that according to the papers had been expended."
Pointing to Rappa, Chronostasis said, "That's where you're wrong, traitor." Chronostasis pulled out a revolver gun, opened the barrel, popped out three bullets. He held them between his fingers, made sure Rappa could see them. "...I fudged the records to skim three of the Quirk Destroying bullets, for my own private use," explained Chronostasis as he put the Quirk Destroying bullets back into the revolver, "Insurance in case Overhaul went off the deep end and threatened the rest of us, threatened to undo what all our organization had worked so hard to build up."
"Ya hear that, traitor and weakling League of Villains?" Mimic taunted, "We've got an ace up our sleeves! Don't go thinking you can lord over us, because Chronostasis's gun makes our group equal to yours!"
"Problem with that," Rappa replied, "Although we destroyed what all doses of the destroying drug, both complete and incomplete, that I stole before leaving with the kid in secret, we saved what all doses of the restoring serum that I took!"
Smirking, Dabi went on, "And you all only have those three bullets. Once they're used up, you're no longer our 'equals' as you're trying to sell yourselves as. Also, we have a few dozen doses of the restoring serum, meaning that even if you expend all three bullets on us here and now, we'll just pop ourselves back to normal before we next meet up with one another."
Growling with annoyance, Chronostasis yelled, "Try popping back from THIS!" The (apparent) now leader of the Shie Hassaikai took aim at Dabi with his gun loaded with the last three Quirk Destroying bullets and fired it, but as he was taking aim Magne stepped in to shield Dabi; this resulted in Magne getting hit in the left shoulder with one of the Quirk Destroying bullets, and she cried out in pain as her veins felt like liquid fire was running through them. As Magne fell to her knees, Chronostasis smirked in amusement under his mask. "...Well now, looks like that one there's gonna be quirkless from here on out."
Turning to look at Chronostasis, Setsuno said, "Uhh, Chronostasis, that used up one of the ONLY three Quirk Destroying bullets we had. Now we only got two."
"A necessary expenditure, Setsuno," Chronostasis explained after turning to face Setsuno, with him and Setsuno not seeing Rappa hand something to Magne, "These guys need to see that we can threaten them into seeing us as-"
Chronostasis was cut off when Hikiji was suddenly yanked forward by some unseen force; the Shie Hassaikai and the Eight Bullets all turned as saw Magne, her quirk back and working as normal, pulling Hikiji forward with her giant magnet bar, then repelling him to push him back. "Yeah, I gave Magne a dose of restoring serum that I brought with me," Rappa explained, "We've got five left on hand, so even if you expend the other two here and now, we'll just undo it."
Those opposing the League of Villains took a step back. "Look, guys," Dabi said, "There's actually a lot we can gain if we join forces." Everyone present looked surprised as they turned to look at Dabi. "Although your little yakuza off-shot is failing, it still has some wealth and a decent sized force of foot soldiers in the form of your run of the mill yakuza thugs." Gesturing to Chronostasis, Dabi said, "That's why I'm offering to let you guys join the League of Villains, provided that you swear your loyalty to me and agree to be my subordinates."
"We're also gonna wanna have priority on what all resources you guys have," Spinner added.
"Then you'll have to wait on us working together until you're agreeable to us assimilating you rather than you assimilating us," Chronostasis replied. Taking out a card, Chronostasis placed it on the floor. "...Here's our number."
"And here's ours," Dabi replied, placing his own card on the floor for Chronostasis to take. The two men took the cards respectively offered to them. With nothing else keeping them there, Chronostasis and Mimic led their Eight Bullets guards out of the warehouse.
After the yakuza took off, Spinner said, "Can we really break them down and make them agree to swear themselves to us?"
"If anything, we can force them to expend their last two Quirk Destroying bullets before trying again," Dabi replied, "They're bound to be more agreeable to submitting to my authority if they no longer have their 'equalizer' as a threat." Shrugging, Dabi said, "Things are going to be getting rather interesting in the Japanese criminal and villainous underworld in the next few days. I can feel it."
END, CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Author's notes;
This chapter covers the begging of how the work studiess and the mess with the Shie Hassaikai will be going down here. Additionally, Izuku gets an in for the work studies thanks to Nejire, who didn't know that her friend Mirio was going to potentially scout Izuku. Mirio wins his fight with 1-A as per normal, but 1-A in addition to having some different members used all twenty of their members, meaning that Bakugo and Todoroki get beaten up by Mirio this time too. Lastly, the League of Villains meets with what's left of the late Overhaul's posse, and they're vying to get each other to submit to their authority. Things for the work study and Shie Hassaikai shenanigans here will be kicking into gear in the next chapter, so until then take care.