Ricardo Valencia - Yeah, he of all people should be more conscious.

Jpx0999 - Monster harem MIGHT be the end result of it, although no, Uraraka's no vampire :v

Detrametal - Wait for it :v Confusion is a natural state for readers of this fic.

KreadStornham - HA! Horrifying cliffhangers and plottwists that appear obvious but only in hindsight are my trademarks :v

yomunot - Yeah, it absolutely started with murder. Then again, Bakugou has too little experience with the magic world to realize that it was an option.

Shahryar - Doing my best :D

(***)

"Alright folks, we're here." Midoriya announces. "It's the building with the mirrorgeist that we're planning to slay inside."

"Slay inside?" Toga mumbles, before giving Izuku a wry smile. "I'd prefer to lay inside."

Bakugou groans. Midoriya tries not to make it known what he feels about her words. Uraraka suddenly looks very, very worried, with maybe a shade of an angry flinch on her face that passes quickly.

Todoroki merely glances at them before putting a straw into one of the cups attached to his helmet. Then he slurps loudly.

He is ignored.

"A quick reminder." Midoriya adds. "It can and probably will try to provoke us into infighting. There are no monsters inside, so if you see something jumping at you ig…" Midoriya pauses and sighs loudly. "Are you serious, guys?"

Kacchan cleared his throat after the 'no monsters' and pointed his finger at Toga. Toga smiled wryly and pointed her finger at Uraraka. Uraraka gasped in shock, before pointing at Toga as well.

Todoroki opened up his bag of popcorn and immediately put a handful of it in his mouth.

He is ignored.

"Grow up, guys." Midoriya announces. Bakugou starts laughing, so Midoriya stares daggers at him. "What?"

"Y-you're telling other people to grow up!" Bakugou keeps laughing. "Oh my God, this is hilarious."

Midoriya groans loudly. He really isn't in the mood for this. The fact that Todoroki actually looks like he was having the time of his life (kind of, there is something akin to a veeeery faint smile on his face and that's a new thing) isn't helping.

"As I said, no sudden movements, keep looking for the mirror, don't run around, check what you're stepping on before doing that because we can't be sure that there are no holes in the floor that the mirrorgeist will hide from us." Midoriya announced as officially as he can. "Also if you see a large and disgustingly deformed quadrupedal abomination, do not attack. Kacchan just tripped and is temporarily on all fours."

"FUCK YOU DEKU!" Kacchan yells at him while waving his baseball bat around threateningly.

Midoriya is keeping his (potential) secret weapon in the pocket of his hoodie. Hopefully, he read Todoroki's tip properly.

(***)

It gets trippy very quickly.

Unfortunately for the mirrorgeist, all you need to do is to memorize where the doors were to avoid the 'locked in a room' trick.

The rest was about crawling around on all fours and trying to make sure that you don't miss anything. Before standing up and thoroughly touching all the walls. While also ignoring the occasional weird things seen in your peripheral vision. Or, well, monsters.

And the fact that they couldn't see each other.

Plus, of course, ignoring the fact that Toga placed herself right behind an illusory wall just so that Izuku would ACCIDENTALLY touch certain mounds of flesh during his attempt to search the wall with his sense of touch.

"H-Himichan?!" He stammers while taking a step back in total shock. Then he hears a loud crashing sound right in front of him. "What happened?!"

"Sorry, I tripped!" He hears Uraraka's voice. "I might have, uhm, Toga's on the floor under me, I'm so sorry!"

"Get off me you…" Toga prepares a rather loud and angry reply. But then, they are all interrupted by a super loud Todoroki's cola slurp.

"Todoroki, you can't see anything happening, why is this so amusing to you?" Midoriya decides to ask.

"... imagination makes everything better." Todoroki replies. There is a loud bang in the backgro… Ah, Kacchan facepalmed. Of course. Even his facepalms are Plus Ultra, it's a miracle that he didn't knock himself out with that. "Please continue."

There are some additional sounds of struggle coming from the direction of where Uraraka accidentally tackled Toga. Right, standing up is made much more complicated when you're entangled with someone and neither of you can see anything.

"You know what, I honestly thought that this would be scarier." Midoriya decides to change the subject. "It's weird as hell, but not particularly scary."

"Because it's a weak mirrorgeist." Todoroki replies, interrupting his occasional slurps for a moment. "And there are no cryptids or undead that formed a symbiotic relationship with it in order to attack you from under its illusions."

"Wow, what a fucking moment to tell us that was an option." Bakugou snarls. "Also if that's weak, then what's a strong mirrorgeist?"

That's a good question, Midoriya decides.

"It's clearly only capable of creating illusions that can fool your sense of sight." Todoroki calmly replies. "Stronger mirrorgeists can warp your perception to the point where they can make you hear, smell or even touch things that aren't there."

"T-touch?" Midoriya replies. "Wait, if they can make you touch something that's not there, how's that different from reality warping?! You could literally stab someone to death with an illusionary knife!"

Silence. There is still a much more subdued sound of struggling coming from the background. Midoriya thinks that untangling themselves takes Uraraka and Toga way too much time, but… not the right time for that.

"... it can be dispelled with anti-illusion magic?" Todoroki eventually replies.

"Wow, that's one hell of a difference." Bakugou snarls. "Alright, this is fucking stupid and I'm absolutely fucking bored of this. Nerd, pull out your secret weapon."

"Ye… no… wait!" Midoriya is about to pull it out from his pocket, when he suddenly realizes something. Or, more like, develops an idea. "Todoroki, a question. What makes a mirrorgeist stronger or weaker?"

"Time, mostly." Todoroki replies. "Quality of medium, too."

Todoroki is a surprisingly nice senpai (even if of the same age as they are) to have, to be honest. Although that's currently not the number one thing on Izuku's mind.

"FUCK!" Midoriya shouts. "We've been tricked, we've been backstabbed and we've been, quite possibly, bamboozled." He then adds in a much calmer tone.

"The fuck are you talking about, nerd?" Bakugou asks immediately.

"We've been looking for the wrong type of mirror." Midoriya replies. "'Quality of medium', Kacchan."

He can hear Bakugou cursing loudly. Kacchan realized what it was about.

"So it can be a fucking hand mirror." He groans. "We've searched past several ruined cupboards already, fuck!" They didn't search through those, as they were looking for a larger mirror. "Deku, whip out your secret weapon and it better be fucking good."

Midoriya does just that. He pulls out a battery-powered strobe light and flips it on, only to start waving it around, while changing the period between blinks. It's a rather strong lamp - Midoriya 'borrowed' it with a concealment glyph from a nearby shop, fully planning to give it back once this assignment would be over.

"The fuck are you doing, Deku?" He hears Kacchan's voice.

"So, you figured it out." Todoroki says before Midoriya has the time to answer. "Congratulations."

"Deeeeku…" Bakugou decides to remind himself.

"Most of the illusions were already there when we entered, Kacchan." Izuku replies. "Mirrorgeist can't make instant changes, or at least it has to plan the change beforehand, like the 'doors you entered through disappearing on you' trick. With the lamp…"

"FUCK!" Kacchan shouts, interrupting him. "Of fucking course, when you move that lamp around, there is a second of delay before it adapts lighting and shadows on its illusions. I should have fucking thought of it my s… wait!" He says again. "Do it again."

Midoriya repeats the last series of gestures.

"I think I have an idea, Deku." Bakugou says. "This is the second floor, right? There's just a ceiling and a roof over our heads, yeah?

Midoriya runs the outside image of the building through his mind together with what he believes to have been the map of their movements while inside.

"Yeah?" Midoriya replies. "I think so."

"Then riddle me this." Bakugou replies. "Why the fuck is that mirrorgeist shit hiding what I think is a fucking ceiling beam over our heads with his tricks? Because I think that I'm seeing its shadow on the wall when you're waving your lamp around."

After a solid five seconds of silence, Midoriya groans loudly.

"There is just no way that the mirror would just randomly be there." Midoriya replies. "But I'm something like 90% sure that putting it in such an unorthodox location is a perfect way of teaching students a lesson. 'Expect the unexpected', 'improvise, adapt, overcome' or some shit like that. Do you need help with that?"

"Look, I think I know where it is, but I'm not one hundred percent sure." Bakugou replies. "Follow my voice, wave the lamp around so that I can pinpoint, then I'll give you the boost to get there. You're lighter than me."

"Alright." Midoriya replies. "Just be DELICATE about this, Kacchan. I don't want you to lift me up just for my head to hit the ceiling beam." Then he starts to head in the direction where Bakugou (most likely) was.

Bakugou laughs at that.

"It might have fixed your fucking head a little, nerd!" He shouts. "Alright, I think I know where it is, now we have to find eac…" That's when Midoriya bumps into him. "Alright, now climb the fuck up before I change my mind."

Izuku does just that. And, after a short moment of waving his hands around, he hits what he feels to be the ceiling beam.

"Alright, move a bit closer in the direction I'm leaning tow… stop!" Midoriya says, when Bakugou moves far enough. "Alright, I'm checking out the ceiling bea…"

His hand hits something that's lying on it. Something small. Something that feels like a flat surface with a handle.

"I think I have it, Kacchan!" Midoriya shouts triumphantly.

"Then just fucking throw it onto the fl…" Katsuki shouts that. Izuku does just that, except he calculates the trajectory wrong. "YOU THREW IT AT MY HEAD, YOU PIECE OF SH…"

The hand mirror clearly bounced off Kacchan's big ugly head and landed on the floor, glass surface-first. With enough velocity to shatter, its improved resistance failed to save it.

A second later, the illusions vanish.

(***)

Todoroki - who when no one was looking found a half-ruined but still relatively soft bed and sat on the verge of it - looks to the right.

He is met with some confused looks from Midoriya. Who, believe it or not, was clearly piggybacking Bakugou. The latter's final aggressive shout was cut short by the mirrorgeist's death, and he was also staring at Todoroki. At least once he finished glancing down at the antique silver hand mirror lying on the floor, with some dark liquid seeping from under it.

Bakugou's stare is all but confused. He's just angry. Probably about things in general.

"Well, that was kinda anticlimactic." Midoriya replies. "I thought it would be something more, like…"

Todoroki looks to the left.

Toga and Uraraka ceased their struggles. They are still rather entangled. Uraraka was clearly on top, her head looming over Toga who was lying on the floor face-up. Their clothes are rather messy, and half of Toga's face (as seen from his position) is covered in Uraraka's disheveled hair.

Todoroki fixes his position to face the two girls properly. Then he pulls out the popcorn.

"Please, continue." He announces. They just stare at him. A moment later Bakugou (Midoriya clearly dismounted him when Todoroki wasn't looking) arrives, takes down his cap for a moment, and karate chops him in the head, before returning his cap to its rightful place.

"Go to horny jail, Library Freak." Bakugou announces. "One pervert nerd is bad enough, don't make it worse."

(***)

"Alright, so what are we supposed to do with… well, that?" Midoriya points towards the broken mirror. It's still lying on the floor, the blood (or whatever it was) no longer seeping from it.

Uraraka and Toga already fixed themselves up properly. Uraraka pulled out a small comb from her pocket (wow) and quickly fixed her hair. Toga decided to embrace her even more messy hairstyle for the time being.

"Throw it into a bag and make sure that it doesn't soak your backpack." Todoroki replies. "Artificers will take it off your hands for a small bonus."

"Alright." Midoriya replies. "Let's do that. Then we're leaving. We should be able to do the combat assignment as well today."

(***)

"Wow, another ruined abandoned house!" Bakugou announces when they arrive. "What a cool fucking trip that is. What's next? Abandoned psychiatric hospital?"

"That's to the north of Takoba, by the Gunga Mountain." Todoroki replies. When Bakugou and Midoriya look at him, he adds. "What?"

"Library Freak, there is no abandoned psychiatric hospital there." Bakugou replies. "I'm a fucking mountain climber and that's the closest mountain to Takoba, I traveled around it like fifty times already."

"Did you travel around it…" Todoroki replies. "... after your Initiation?"

Silence. Bakugou is about to explode, but Toga speaks first.

"Oh, oh, oh, can we go there next?!" She shouts while waving her hands around. "That place sounds so cool!"

"... that sounds super dangerous." Uraraka quickly comments. "Please, let's not go there." Midoriya can relate to that.

"FUUUUCK!" Bakugou ignores them both and yells at the clouds. Then, he immediately calms down. "Okay, I processed it now. Let's continue. What do we do now?"

"We're here to deal with a colony of mimic crawlers." Midoriya replies. "They're basically a type of pests, except they have a very peculiar defense mechanism. They can impersonate objects. In short, when they see an empty soda bottle, they can make themselves look like an empty soda bottle. However, they are still animals, and not particularly tough ones. Hence, the pointy sticks."

He raises his broomstick. Bakugou has his baseball bat, while Toga and Uraraka came with particularly straight tree branches.

"We're going to look through the building room by room…" Midoriya continues. "And poke everything. While putting some pressure into it. When the mimic feels pain, it's going to try to run away. When that happens, we'll know for certain that we've found one of them, so just… put more pressure and crush it with your sticks. Simple enough?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure thing Deku." Bakugou replies. "Let's get it done." Uraraka smiles while nodding in agreement.

"Not so fast." Midoriya quickly cuts in. Judging from the look on Toga's face, she was waiting for that to happen. "A very important message - crawler mimics' bite."

"... as if that's bad." Toga rolls her eyes around. Uraraka gives her a mildly angry look. Midoriya ignores them both.

"They are also mildly venomous, but you won't die unless you let like fifty of them bite you in short succession." He continues. "Thankfully, everyone listened to my instructions and wore long and relatively thick trousers and high boots. They shouldn't be able to bite through either, and if they do you'll end at worst with a mild rash and some pain. Still, there IS a possibility that if we kill enough of them, the rest will try to zerg rush us or dash away, so let's be on your guard while doing it, got it? And look over your heads as well, since they can climb walls and drop on you from the ceiling."

"Less talking, more crushing, Deku!" Bakugou roars. "Let's get it fucking done already!"

Kacchan fails to notice the smirk on Izuku's look when he marches towards the building's entrance.

(***)

In a truly splendid coincidence, Bakugou is the first one who scores a hit. He poked what looked like a fragment of wooden board with his baseball bat, only for it to suddenly develop legs and change color to black.

Plus, of course, try to crawl away.

"AAAAAAAHH!" Bakugou screams while jumping back in fright. Toga moves forward quickly and smashes the crawler with her branch before it can escape.

"... what just happened?" Todoroki asks between handfuls of popcorn. Uraraka glances at Izuku… on whose face lies a big shit eating grin.

"Oh my, I forgot to mention it, Kacchan!" Midoriya then says slowly. "Crawler mimics are spiders."

"Deku, you son of a bitch!" Bakugou yells. "I'm out of this assignment, screw that, screw you, screw this school!"

"Wait…" A smile blooms on Toga's face. "He's arachnophobic?! Pffffftt!" She starts laughing. "Oh my god, this is brilliant!"

"Don't you dare laugh at me!" Bakugou yells. "I'm not scared of them, I just…" Toga quickly grabs the corpse of the half-squashed mimic and waves it in front of Bakugou.

Bakugou screams.

Like a little girl.

While jumping backwards and almost landing on the floor.

"Kacchan!" Midoriya says loudly. "Do you have the tiniest idea how many scary supernatural cryptid spiders are out there? You have to fight your phobia! It's illogical and you know it!"

"IT'S NOT ILLOGICAL!" Bakugou screams. "When I stole your notebook you filled my backpack with spiders you caught behind the school! When I opened it up, they all fucking crawled over me!"

"Kacchan!" Midoriya shakes his head. "That was in elementary school. Get over it already. What if there is a scary spooky thing that can use your fears against you?"

"Mirrorgeists can." Todoroki announces calmly. When Midoriya looks at him questioningly, he adds. "If Bakugou announced its arachnophobia in proximity to that hand mirror, it would attempt to chase him or provoke him into accidentally injuring the rest of you by projecting illusions of spiders. They are intelligent enough to do it."

"Oh god." Bakugou starts shivering. "I'm going to be the one who dies first."

"Don't worry, I'll take good care of your nerd when that happens!" Toga smiles at him, before handing him a bottle. "Here, take this."

"Why are the fuck are you giving me a b…" Bakugou replies, while extending his arm to grab it. But that's when the bottle suddenly grows legs. "AAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaa!"

A second later, Bakugou runs out of the building. He even dropped his baseball bat in panic.

"... that was hilarious but also a REALLY low blow, Himichan." Midoriya announces a few seconds later. Toga doesn't reply, being clearly too busy laughing. "Like, seriously."

"You can't aggravate someone's trauma to this degree." Uraraka agrees with him, right after squashing the former bottle. "It's just rude."

Toga's laughter dies down.

"Spoilsports." Toga grumbles. "Besides, Todoroki clearly agrees with me!"

Midoriya glances at him. Todoroki lets the drinking straw pop out of his mouth.

"I do, it was hilarious." He deadpans. "Please, do it again."

"Todoroki isn't an authority on humor." Midoriya replies towards Toga. "I thought that this should be obvious by now."

Toga rolls her eyes around. Todoroki slurps his cola loudly. Midoriya groans.

"I'll go apologize to him and ask him to try to 'controllably' face his trauma." Midoriya says. "By the way, Todoroki. A question to you. You know the frog-girl living in the lake in the UA?"

"Yes." Todoroki replies. "What about her?"

"It might be a bit of an odd question, but I really don't know a lot about her. And she feels rather feral." Midoriya replies while raising one of the dead crawlers by its leg. "You think she'd eat those?"

"Most certainly." Todoroki replies. "But I don't see the reason to carry them so far. She eats basically everything that moves and is small enough to fit in her mouth. Why do you ask?"

"Well, she told me that if I feed her, she'll pay with me the things that Candidates and Black Course students threw into her lake." Midoriya replies. "I thought that she might like some free range spider meat. And, well, I'm kind of curious about the frog gacha results and so on."

Todoroki stares at him for a few long seconds.

"... Tsuyu can speak?" He then says. With a shock genuine enough that it's actually visible.

"Wait, you didn't know?" Midoriya replies, while Uraraka and Toga stare at him. Uraraka with confusion, Toga with shock to probably equal what Todoroki had going. "Her grammar sucks, but…" Then he connects the dots. "Wait, she doesn't talk with anyone else?!"

"I didn't even know that she knew human language." Todoroki replies. "Her mother was apparently an UA student that overused magic and became an animalkin demihuman. She kind of moved into the lake, had Tsuyu but no one knew who the father was, and later on died before graduating. Tsuyu just… lived there, in the background, eating things and spooking new students occasionally. Most human interaction she gets consists of people throwing bread at her. Even her name was given to her by the students."

"Wow." Midoriya groans. "And the faculty didn't even, I dunno, try to civilize her a little or something? They just let a girl live alone in a lake in the middle of the campus like an animal?"

"She's a demi." Todoroki replies. "They aren't exactly treated as humans unless they prove they're capable of living as humans. The fact that this particular branch of demihumans is very likely to devolve into a fully animal mindset isn't helping her case."

"So faculty just…" Midoriya tries to reply, but Todoroki speaks faster.

"Faculty just tends to ignore her existence." Todoroki says. "I did see Yagi-sensei knock her unconscious with magic and carry her to the school nurse when he saw her limping around the lake with some serious injury, but that's about all. And even in his case, I think it was more like what you'd do if you saw an injured dog on the side of the road. She certainly made no indication of being able to speak, a fact that would certainly change the way she was treated."

His eyes narrow a bit, still focused on Midoriya.

"But she spoke to you." He says. "Fascinating. Now I really want to see you pull that gacha."