I don't want to make a habit of personally responding to specific reviews, mainly so it doesn't get to the point where half the chapter space is just author comments outside the story. I will take this time now to reply to a couple though.
born75th: A "slashing" power with Doko's Quirk sounds pretty cool and I may work it into another super move that I had planned for him to learn later.
And to the guest that posted on the 31st: I've never seen One Piece, but I looked up clips of the character you mentioned and it does seem pretty similar, with the force field and the hand movements and everything. I'm just a big fan of telekinetic-type powers and draw inspiration from a variety of sources jumbled up in my head.
Anyway, on with the chapter.
Chapter 28: Final Exams, Part 3
Doko's mind flatlined. He'd gone completely blank. Mina was kissing him. He was capable of realizing that, at least, but he wasn't sure what else to do. It seemed to last forever and not long enough all at once. He got his senses back just in time to feel how soft and sweet her lips were before she'd pulled away with a soft pop, releasing his shirt from her tight grip.
She was grinning fully, scanning his face for his reaction. Doko could only blink, his eyes the size of saucers. Form a sentence, you dolt. "I…yeah…" he coughed.
"Doko," Mina said. "I like you, like a lot."
"Uhmmm…same here. I mean, not. I don't like me. I mean, I do, I'm not wallowing in self-loathing or anything, but I mean…FUCK! I like you too, Mina." Doko closed his fists around each other to stop his hands from shaking.
Her bubbly grin got even wider, if that was possible. Her eyes seemed to light up, and tension exited her body. She didn't know if I would return her feelings?! "Good. So we can classify this afternoon's outing as a date then?"
"I…yeah, we can do that."
"Excellent." She stepped forward again, and kissed his cheek. It was just a peck, but he felt a warmth spread over him from that spot, causing him to go red in the face. Mina noticed his blush and smirked, clearly satisfied with the result of all this.
"Are you quite finished?" Nezu asked innocently, turning the chair back around.
"Sorry!" Mina told him quickly, sucking in breath through her teeth. "You…you gave me permission, but if that wasn't what you were intending…"
"Haha, no, it certainly was," said Nezu. "It might surprise you that I think this, but relationships are an important thing to develop as students, even if you're studying to be heroes." He folded his hands in his lap. "I'm sure Aizawa feels the same, even if he wouldn't be happy with this post-exam display. But what Aizawa doesn't know won't hurt him." The principal winked.
"Sorry for swearing, too!" Doko said frantically, feeling a bit like Midoriya for a moment.
"Oh, that's alright. It allowed you to collect your thoughts." He waved a hand. "What you might want to be worried about instead is the reaction of your classmates who saw that from the observation room."
"Whoops, forgot about them!" Mina declared in a tone that implied she hadn't forgotten them at all.
"Gah!" Doko went pale. Who exactly would have been watching? Who would be the worst person to have seen that? Hagakure? Sero? Kaminari? No, his exam was after ours, he wouldn't have been in there. As a matter of fact, so are the other two.
He turned to Mina. "Did you really just…"
She stuck her tongue out. "They were all gonna find out sooner or later. Besides, even if I'd been hesitant…" she took a moment to look out the window of the crane room and into the sunlight. "...it felt like the right time. That overrode any other feelings."
"Well, we should get back," said Nezu. "Congratulations on passing, you two. Enjoy your summer break and training camp."
…
Upon entering the observation room, they were immediately assaulted by a very frantic and very robotic Iida.
"Ashido, Katayama! Such behavior is entirely inappropriate! I understand celebrating your passing of the exam, but as class rep, I cannot condone such actions!" The bespectacled boy was chopping his hands up and down in the air.
"Oh, lighten up a bit, Iida-kun," Mina said with a wave of her hand.
"I was an unwitting accomplice," Doko complained, only to receive a light punch to the shoulder from his pink companion.
"I m-must concur with Iida…" Yao-momo walked up to them, blushing furiously. "As class p-president, it is m-my responsibility to…"
"The principal let me do it!" Mina complained.
Recovery Girl chuckled. "Well, in that case, I guess we won't tell Aizawa. The man's a softie at heart anyway."
"Katayama, Ashido!" Midoriya walked up to them, surprisingly not appearing that embarrassed. "Congratulations on passing!"
"Thanks, Midori!" Mina exclaimed with equal fervor. Doko sweatdropped. He's completely ignoring the other thing?
Uraraka stepped up next to the green-haired boy, blushing nearly as deeply as Momo. "Y-y-yeah, as Deku s-said…" she stammered. "...well done…" She was trying to ignore it too, but doing a worse job compared to Midoriya.
Todoroki blinked. "Why did you two kiss?"
Both Midoriya and Uraraka suddenly turned the color of tomatoes, as if the reality they were avoiding came crashing down on them. "Uhhhmm…" the brunette hummed.
Midoriya waved his hands like a madman. "We weren't trying to be intrusive or anything!"
"It's just…"
"Todoroki, why would you say that?!"
The scarred boy gave Midoriya a look. "Because I'm confused."
"I kissed him because I like him, and now we're a couple!" Mina declared, throwing her arms around Doko's neck and kicking one leg up in the air.
"It's about time, ribbit," said Tsu, appearing out of nowhere.
Doko grinned at the frog girl. "See? I didn't need your help after all."
"Could have fooled me." She looked happier than he'd seen her in a while.
Mina's eyes widened. "TSU? You KNEW he liked me?"
"It was kind of obvious, ribbit."
"Grrr! You said you would help me!" Mina wailed. "You were playing both sides the whole time?"
"I don't know how this is surprising to you."
The other students laughed. Recovery Girl sighed and smiled to herself. "Ah, youth…"
"Jiro and Koda, practical exam," said a voice.
All the 1A students gasped and turned to look at the screen, broken from the reverie. The seventh match had begun.
…
"If possible, let's just avoid combat with Present Mic and head for the gate," Jiro suggested. "Sound good?"
Koji Koda nodded nervously. They'd been put into a forest for the exam, which was good for him, but Present Mic had a perfect Quirk to counteract both his own and Jiro's…and I'm too nervous to think of any better solutions!
"All right," she nodded back. "Let's go!"
Koji followed her, running down a winding dirt path through the forest. Jiro had always intimidated him, with her brusque way of speaking and dry attitude, but she also seemed really cool and capable. I'm in your hands, Jiro! Just like…just like Yaoyorozu carried me in the battle trial…
He'd helped the Pussycats with their rescue, but back among his classmates, he felt useless all over again.
He looked up in the tree branches all around him, catching snippets of conversation from the birds.
"What's going on?"
"What's with the two little humans?"
"They're not little, you idiot, we're just higher up than they are."
Suddenly, the forest filled with a rumbling. Jiro stopped short. "What's that?"
A yellow wave of sound came rushing at them, blasting at what felt like a million decibels. "YEAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Present Mic roared, his Quirk flooding over the forest. Jiro and Koji bent over forward, clutching their ears. The birds fled, scattering away from the arena.
"AAArgh! So loud!" Jiro choked out through a grimace. The attack subsided, and she looked to Koji. "Koda, you can control animals right? Can't you get the birds to attack him or something?!"
Koji shook his head frantically and said in a quiet tone, "They all just fled, and even if they came back, they would never agree to do that. He's too loud; they won't want to get in close."
Jiro went pale in shock. "You can totally talk!"
Koji nodded. "I'm sorry I can't be of more help…"
"No, it's okay." She turned back toward where Mic's voice had come from, a determined expression on her face. "Even if I plug my ears, it feels like my eardrums would burst…he's not just louder. He's on another level."
They took off running again. "Even if we manage to get to the gate," Jiro continued, "he's probably there waiting, so we wouldn't be able to avoid fighting him."
"COME OOOOOUUUUUT!" Present Mic boomed, flooding the forest with sound again, and stopping the students in their tracks. Aaaaaargh! Koji clutched his ears, bending over in pain. So loud…
"MY EARS!" Jiro screamed.
"YOU COMING YET?!"
"I can't take it anymore…I can't…"
"HURRY UP!"
The attack subsided. They'd taken refuge behind some rocks. "If this keeps up, our eardrums will be shot," said Jiro. "Huh?" she looked down at the rock. "An ant…"
Koji swallowed. He looked over at the ant nervously. Bugs…no, anything but bugs…
"Koda!" she exclaimed with the smile of one with a new idea, letting the ant crawl onto her knuckles. "Can you control bugs?"
Koji forced his breathing to slow, watching the ant. Panic was rising in his throat. He was fighting the urge to scream.
No! I can…I can do this! How will I ever become a hero by just controlling friendly animals? This is UA, where we break through our barriers!
I already controlled a swarm of bats! Bugs…bugs are NOTHING!
He closed his eyes, jamming his mouth shut. He nodded to her.
"Great!" Jiro said. "Now, can you…"
"THERE YOU ARE!"
They both were forced back down, clutching their ears again to defend against the ruthless attack. Jiro's earphone jack snaked down to the speaker on her leg, and she sent out sound of her own, cancelling out Present Mic's voice.
Koji's ears rang as the sounds clashed, slowly dissipating away into soft waves. He looked to his partner, and saw red leaking from her ears. She's bleeding…He swallowed, nodding to the rock.
Jiro moved her jack from her speaker to the rock, and sent sound through it again, causing the rock to burst. Below it were bugs, bugs galore. All manner of bugs, crawling and creeping through the dirt.
Koji nearly screamed again. I can do it. I can do it! I can…
"Go, little ones," he said, leaning over the bugs, trying to fight his trembling. "Now is the time to take out the man…responsible for all the noise."
"You don't have to tell us twice."
"Yeah, that guy's being annoying as hell."
"What say we go through the dirt and come up his leg? That'll give him a good scare!"
The bugs dived underground in a swarm, disappearing, following his orders. Huh. Bugs are nicer and easier than I expected.
Jiro was watching in surprise, her eyes wide. "I don't think I've ever actually seen you use your Quirk. That's…that's amazing!"
They took off toward the gate. Ahead in the clearing, they saw Present Mic, panicking as bugs crawled up his arms and legs, and then screaming, passing out from pure panic and fear.
Jiro began to laugh. "HAHAHAHAHA! IT WORKED! LET'S GO!"
They ran through the gate, Koji's heart soaring. He smiled with his partner.
"Team Jiro and Koda have passed!" the voice announced.
…
"Team Hagakure and Shoji, practical exam," said the voice. "Ready, go!"
Toru followed the taller boy between two lines of columns, as they made their way across their arena. Shoji was sending out limbs with eyes and ears, peeking around corners of columns and walls to look for Snipe. "Watch it!" the masked boy called sharply. "He's…"
A bullet struck against the concrete column with loud sparks, causing Toru to shriek and jump back. Three more soon followed, ruthless and unrelenting. POW POW POW!
"I'm gonna try and make a run for him," said Shoji, peering one eye around the corner, then shrinking away as another bullet struck. "When I tackle him, you go for the gate."
"Shoji-kun, no," Toru insisted. "He'll shoot you a lot. It'll be a waste."
"I can make a forward shield with my arms and sacrifice some of them. They will grow back."
"Snipe-sensei knows that! He'll aim for your legs or something! I…" Another round was unloaded into the pillar, causing them both to stop and shield themselves for a moment. "Come out," Snipe called, his whispery voice washing over them.
Toru relaxed, breathing hard. Her heart wouldn't stop racing. "Listen, Shoji. I should be the one to go and tackle him."
"What? But he's bigger than you, and…" Shoji looked back, to see her taking off her gloves and boots. "...Oh. That's your plan. Alright. Do your best."
Toru raised her eyebrows, although he couldn't see it. "You don't have any issues?"
"I trust you, Hagakure-san. Trying to coddle my fellow classmates is not something I wish to do."
Toru felt heat creep up her face. That was one of the good things about being invisible; it was easy to hide when you were embarrassed. "Well, alright then. Here I go."
She dashed out sideways from the pillar, emerging into the clearing. Snipe continued to shoot bullets toward where Shoji was. She could see him clearly, standing between them and the escape gate.
Toru took a deep breath. Fighting in the nude was something she'd gotten used to by now, but this would be the most daring thing she'd done by far.
She ran at Snipe, her bare feet pounding against the concrete floor…too loudly.
"I can hear you," he half-whispered, and suddenly turned his gun in her general direction.
Toru gasped and ducked low, sliding to the floor and cringing as her skin made contact. A bullet went sailing past her, wide and unfocused. He didn't know her exact location, that was good.
"These bullets are made of nonlethal rubber," Snipe called out into the clearing. "Still, it would hurt a great deal for one to strike against bare skin. And when I am unable to see you, I am unable to aim for preferable areas. I would hate to shoot you in the head, Young Hagakure. Or worse." The rest he left unsaid, but Toru got the message. My breasts or even my groin. No, you wouldn't want to do that, Snipe. But…doesn't that give me the advantage?
She stood again, racing toward him with full confidence. He won't shoot. He's too scared he might overstep and hurt me badly.
Snipe turned…and threw something against the floor.
Smoke erupted into the clearing, and Toru stumbled backward, coughing. Her eyes began to water and threatened to close, stinging. The pro hero teacher wavered and became a dark silhouette in her vision, enveloped by smoke. He took several steps forward.
"This is a special smoke grenade that I had made just this past year," he droned. "The smoke it emits is attracted to body heat. As a result, it tends to gather…" he aimed his gun directly for her leg. "...around the shape of a person."
Toru's heart skipped a beat, and she rolled sideways, as Snipe shot a bullet where her right knee had been a second ago. The smoke had indeed gathered around her, creating the silky outline of a girl. Snipe had her right where he wanted.
"Hagakure!" Shoji yelled, coming up from behind. Snipe shot three more bullets in the boy's direction, and Shoji stopped, putting up his arm-shield. Two bullets hit, and he let out a whimpering growl of pain.
Toru inhaled deeply, feeling the smoke curl around her. Remember Reflector. Remember your training. Feel the light, the matter around you…let it pass over and through and in-between…and then RELEASE!
"RAINBOW REFLECT!" Toru shouted, and leapt in front of Snipe, a full spectrum of bright light erupting from her body. "GAAAAH!" the pro yelled, cringing and throwing an arm over his face, blinded.
"Shoji, go!"
"OCTO-SPIN!" the dupli-arms user roared, leaping forward and delivering his crushing move to Snipe, a flurry of spinning fists. The teacher tried to counter as the gun went flying out of his hands, but it was too late. Shoji had overpowered him.
And then they ran out of the gate, together, before Snipe could get back to his firearm. "Team Hagakure and Shoji have passed!" the voice announced.
…
"Yes! They did it!" Doko exclaimed. "I've been wondering what the new moves they talked about looked like!"
"Woohoo, Toru-chan!" Mina cheered. "That's my girl!"
"That boy Shoji is willing to get himself hurt, since he has regeneration," Recovery Girl said wearily. "What's with this class being so troublesome?"
"They did great, ribbit," said Tsu. "Now it's…"
"...Kaminari and Sero versus Midnight," Iida finished. "This is the ninth match. Midoriya, shouldn't you be going to prepare for your own match?"
"Yeah, Deku-kun." Uraraka gave the green-haired boy a strange look.
"I mean, probably, but…" Midoriya looked back up at the screen, smiling. "I want to watch and support everyone else for as long as I can."
…
"Team Kaminari and Sero, practical exam. Ready, go!"
"Okay, here's the plan," Kaminari said in a hushed tone as the two boys hid behind a rock. "I'll zap Midnight with everything I've got. You keep at a distance. She'll knock me out with her Quirk, but I'll be all stupid by then anyway so it doesn't matter. But she'll also be electrocuted, leaving you open to run for the gate!"
Hanta nodded. "Makes sense…wait. You just want to touch her, don't you! You're gonna aim straight for her boobs!"
"And?" Kaminari blinked. "What's wrong, Sero bro? Do you want my role instead? Well, too bad!"
"You don't even have to sacrifice yourself like that. If I break off two pieces of my tape, we can cover our noses and mouths with that and not breathe in her Quirk."
Kaminari considered a moment. "...Nah. I think I want to inhale it. I've never gotten a chance before! I bet it smells good…the sweet scent of women…well, let's not waste any time!" The electric boy got up and took off.
"Hey, wait up!" Hanta chased after him. Gah, he's thinking with his dick! I mean, I think Midnight's pretty hot too, which is probably why we got picked, but still!
"Huh? The gate's open?" Kaminari looked ahead through the clearing. "Where is she?"
"Behind you!" a sadistic, playful voice called.
Sero gasped and leapt backwards past Kaminari as Midnight came strolling out from behind a rock, licking her lips.
Kaminari took on a stupidly confident expression. "I got this!" He raced forward, his fingers wiggling, clearly meaning to electrocute Midnight chest-first.
The heroine cracked her whip, striking him across the face hard. "No touching the goooods," she sang, and ripped her sleeve open.
Kaminari staggered, as Hanta broke off a piece of tape. "TAKE THIS, DUDE!" he screamed, holding his hand out. The pink gas began to flow towards them.
"No! It's fine, I'll just…brave it!" he raced forward into the gas.
Midnight cracked her whip again, and Kaminari reached out, catching it in midair this time. The heroine's eyes widened. "Huh?"
"One…million…volts…" as he got knocked out from the gas, Kaminari's fingers sent electricity racing up her whip toward her…and then he wilted, fast asleep.
Midnight dropped the whip in shock, shaking her hand off from the electricity. "That hurt," she pouted. "It wasn't one million volts, though. Looks like your plan of attack mostly failed." She suddenly looked up at Hanta, her eyes glistening with excitement. "And where do you think you're going?" Pink gas billowed out from her on all sides, threatening. Kaminari snored softly on the ground.
Wordlessly, Hanta covered his face with tape, and began running for the gate.
"Oh, no you don't!" Midnight picked her whip up again in a flash, and shot it out to his leg, tripping him and making him crash into the rocky ground. Ow…
"You know, I was planning on just waiting at the gate…" she purred, walking toward him slowly like some dark angel, surrounded by her pink cloud. "...but seeing you run away in fear like that just fans my sadistic side so much…I just can't help it!"
From behind the tape, Hanta couldn't say anything.
"You can't hold your breath like that forever, and it'll be harder to fight," she threatened. "Concede, and your punishment will be less severe." She licked her lips again.
Hanta stood. She has a point, but…
I've been working hard to stand out! I won't let something like this get in my way!
Midnight sent her whip out again…and the solution seemed almost too easy.
Hanta shot tape from his elbows, and met her whip in mid-air. The two long weapons collided, and stuck together. Midnight's eyes became saucers, and she gasped. Hanta yanked hard, pulling the heroine toward him.
The two of them collided, the pink gas surrounding them. Hanta had the briefest moment to allow himself to feel how soft Midnight was before rolling low under her fist, and wrapping his tape around her the way he'd done Todoroki. Then, he clamped the handcuffs around her wrist.
"Team Kaminari and Sero have passed!" the voice announced.
Midnight smiled and retracted her gas, letting the pink cloud clear away. "Well done," she praised, as Hanta ripped the tape off his face, gasping for breath. "I didn't even have time to counter-attack. But if I had…you would have received quite the beating."
"I wanted to make sure you wouldn't be able to start up close combat…" he choked out. "Besides, I was about to pass out from lack of oxygen…"
"In any case, you'd best help your poor classmate out over there." She nodded toward the sleeping Kaminari. "What he accomplished may not be enough to let him pass, I fear."
…
"Team Bakugo and Midoriya have passed!"
Uraraka and Tsuyu did a victory dance, cheering happily. Iida and Yaoyorozu smiled. Even Todoroki's mouth lifted up a little.
"That was crazy," said Mina. "I thought they would fail for sure."
Doko's face was dark. Sure, they'd passed, but…
"I don't think it was very fair to Midoriya to make him team up with Bakugo."
The pink girl tilted her head at him, confused. "What do you mean?"
"Well…I guess it was probably more for Bakugo's benefit, to make him learn teamwork or something…but it still isn't fair on Midoriya's end. He was the one being forced to cross the bridge and try and compromise, all while fighting the strongest person on the entire planet. He probably had a harder exam than anyone else." Doko's thoughts wandered back to the burnt notebook. Aizawa, did you put them together because they "don't get along"? Are you sure you understand the full situation there?
Mina smiled at him. "There you go again, hmm. Always concerned with that sort of stuff. That's why I like you so much."
"Huh? I mea…arrggh...ggh." Doko felt heat spread to his face yet again, at a loss for words.
"Hehehe. I've finally broken through and managed to successfully tease you. You have no idea how good this feels."
"Yeah, yeah." He sighed. "Well, the exams are over, I guess." He checked his watch. "Uhh…oh no."
Mina blinked. "What? What is it?"
"Man, Mina…it's kinda late…I mean, I thought we'd be done by early afternoon…but it's pretty much nearly sunset out there."
A flash of disappointment across her face, already knowing what was coming. "...Which means?"
"I need to get home. My parents…" he winced. "Mina, I'm sorry. I know you wanted to go on our…first date." Those words were hard to say, weren't they?
She closed her eyes for a moment…and then smiled wearily. "That's alright. I understand if it's your parents and all. Besides, we have plenty of time to do more stuff! All the time in the world."
"Man…" he scratched his neck. "I feel like a failure of a partner already."
"Boyfriend," she mumbled, and he looked up in surprise. Her cheeks were dusted with lilac. "We're boyfriend and girlfriend, right?"
Doko took a deep breath. Stop being nervous, stop blushing, stop being wishy-washy. That's no good for anyone. Besides, you owe her this much. This was a happy moment. He had passed his exam, and he was with the girl he liked.
"Yes," he told her, with a steady, confident voice. "You, Mina Ashido, are my girlfriend."
Her whole face seemed to light up at that. "Alright then. I will accept that as payback for now." She swayed forward teasingly. "But I'm expecting the best date ever."
"I understand."
"Ahem," Iida coughed.
The two of them looked up. All their other classmates and Recovery Girl were standing at the exit of the observation room, waiting on them. "If you're quite finished…" Yao-momo mumbled, averting her eyes and blushing.
"Yes! Sorry!" Doko moved to follow them, feeling quite embarrassed.
Mina just chuckled. "This is going to be so much fun."
…
The end of the day. Most of Class A had successfully passed, except for Kirishima, Sato, and Kaminari. Many had overcome personal barriers and learned new things about themselves. There was an air of weariness, but excitement as well, knowing that soon they would have their summer vacation and their training camp. They'd climbed over a great wall, and were now ready to enjoy the gifts on the other side.
But in the shadows of the city, at a dark, abandoned bar, Tomura Shigaraki stirred. Standing in front of him were two new recruits. A tall young man with a scarred face and dark, messy hair…and a high school aged girl, with two messy blonde buns tied up on the sides of her head.
The League of Villains prepared to move once again.
…
"Everyone…please let us know…how the training camp is…" Kirishima said in a pathetic tone, as he, Kaminari, and Sato stood in the corner of the classroom, a depressed energy hovering over all three of them.
"Hey, calm down…" Midoriya chuckled nervously, holding his hands up. "There could be a last minute twist or something…"
Kaminari's face was drenched in shadow. "They told me what I did wasn't enough to pass. Do you know what that means? If we didn't pass the exams, we'll be in summer school hell. Not at the training camp. And since we all failed the practical…what part of that…" He suddenly whirled, poking his fingers into Midoriya's eyes. "DON'T YOU GET?!"
"That's far too excessive," Sero called dryly from across the row of desks.
"If you feel bad for us, just bring us back lots of stuff," Sato groaned, slamming his head down into his desk.
The classroom door slid open. "To your seats," Aizawa announced.
They all moved as fast as Iida in that moment, getting to their spots like lightning. Silence immediately cut through the room.
"Unfortunately, there are three of you who did not pass the final exams," Aizawa continued as he reached the front of the room. "In accordance, in regards to the training camp…" he suddenly smiled in a very un-Aizawa like manner. "Everyone's going!"
"WHAT?!" the whole class exclaimed together.
"Oh no, please don't do that," Eraserhead complained.
"Are you serious? That means us too?" Kirishima asked excitedly.
"No one actually failed the written exam. You, Sato, and Kaminari all failed the practical. We teachers, when acting as the villains, made sure that you students had at least one opening. We wanted to see how you would react to the task at hand. If we hadn't left an opening…you would all have failed very quickly."
The whole class shuddered, intimidated.
"But the purpose of the training camp is to increase strength. If you look at those who failed their practical exam as the weakest in the class, then it would be illogical to make them miss that opportunity. But still…failure is failure. While at the camp, the three of you will undergo…extra lessons."
Kaminari, Kirishima, and Sato all wilted.
…
After class, they all got pamphlets for the training camp.
"At least we're all going together!" Ojiro declared, patting Kirishima on the back.
"One week, huh…" Iida thumbed through the pamphlet.
"Man, I don't have a bathing suit," Kaminari complained. "I need to buy a bunch of stuff."
"Hey!" Toru shouted, and all nineteen of the rest of them turned to look at her. "To help with that, and to celebrate the end of exams, why don't we all go shopping tomorrow?"
Most of the class voiced their approval of the idea. "It'll be our first time hanging out as a class!" Uraraka chirped.
"Bakugo, you're gonna come too, right?" Kirishima asked as the ashen blonde boy slouched his way out of the classroom.
"As if I'd do something so irritating."
"Todoroki, you're coming too, right?" Midoriya asked the heterochromic boy.
"As much as I'd love to…" he coughed. "Make more friends, I do usually visit my mom on days off."
"Oh." Midoriya kept smiling. "Well, tell her I said hello!"
"Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall!" Mina and Toru exclaimed together, dancing around each other excitedly. "It's the best mall in the prefecture!"
"The most advanced stores!"
"Doko!" Mina whirled to look at him. "You're gonna come too, right?" She suddenly gripped his arm, hanging off of him with a massive toothy grin.
Doko became acutely aware of the whole class watching them. "Of course," he said, keeping his voice level. "It'll be good since we didn't have a chance to hang out yesterday."
"Wait…" Kaminari stepped toward them, very slowly. "Are you two…"
Jiro raised her eyebrows. "Are they…"
"DATING?!" a bunch of the class exclaimed at once.
"Yes," said Tsu flatly, loud enough for everyone to hear.
"WHAAAAAAT?!" Toru screamed, jumping up onto a desk.
"ARE YOU SERIOUS?" Sero grabbed Doko by the shoulders and began to shake him furiously. "Katayama, why didn't you tell me? Why? Why?"
Yao-momo and Uraraka both sweatdropped with uncomfortable faces. "We already knew," they whispered together.
"This was most predictable," muttered Tokoyami. Shoji nodded in agreement.
"No way, dudes!" Kirishima gave them a thumbs-up. "Congrats!"
Doko allowed himself to sigh. He'd been secretly a little worried that Kirishima, as Mina's childhood friend, might take issue with them dating. But clearly he had nothing to worry about.
"Haha, yep!" Mina announced to the whole room in a bubbly voice, her grip on Doko tightening. "He won't show it, but he's just as happy as I am!"
"Hey," he countered in an offended tone. "I can appear happy. I'm GREAT at being happy."
Toru snorted.
"I can't believe this," Kaminari wailed, looking down at his shoes. "First Sero goes and makes contact with Midnight without me, and then I fail as a result. And now people are getting into relationships. If I don't get a girlfriend soon, I'm gonna…" He raised his fists in fury, and then was slapped in the face by Jiro's earphones. "Stop being impertinent," she complained.
"In any case, I congratulate you both," said Ojiro.
"Love is blossoming, hmm?" Aoyama sang, suddenly sliding over to where Uraraka was standing. "Don't you agree, mademoiselle?"
"Huuuuuh?" The brunette's face suddenly went red again, her eyes flashing toward Midoriya. The green-haired boy blinked, oblivious.
"Ribbit," said Tsu.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
I don't have much to say about this one. I know it seems like Doko isn't actually as happy as he should be now, but it's mainly because there wasn't a lot of time for the reality of the situation to settle in for him with everything else going on.
Next chapter will be a lot more romance focused as the class heads to the mall. The Shigaraki scene will be addressed and will be slightly altered compared to canon. I may also get into the very beginning of the training camp arc; we'll see. See you then!