Rule #84: Disorganisation does not tolerate failure

By the time the first Monday of their school break had rolled around, the excitement of the weekend's excursion to the mall had dwindled away. The League of Villains sighting had rattled many and Toru had been scolded—rather harshly in her opinion—on how she had handled the situation; particularly when egging on the villain and so on. She knew that the she could have probably handled it better or even made the situation a whole lot more worse, but in that moment she was more worried for her trouble-magnet of a classmate.

Sometimes Toru forgot that the things they'd learnt in 3-E weren't as widely accepted, and as such didn't have the same kind of training as they did. Koro-sensei's killing intent training had helped her immensely in that moment, because Shigaraki couldn't hold a candle to the enraged octopus. If the invisible girl had thought her permanent record was slightly tarnished before (with the Stain incident and her status as a student of 3-E & all that that entailed), then it was definitely stained by now.

Tucked behind her desk, legs crossed at the ankles, the invisible girl marvelled at how odd it was to be at school whilst everyone else was out. The classroom was the quietest it had ever been, but then again there were only six of them in there. Behind her, Bakugou's long legs had been kicked out in front of him, his feet almost grazing her heels as he stared listlessly out of the window. Over his shoulder, Midoriya was glued to his phone as he watched the All Might documentary which had been advertised for the past couple of days. Across the room, Tsu and Ochako chattered endlessly in quiet murmurs that blanketed the room in a quiet hum. And all the way in the back of the room, Todoroki sat on his lonesome, lost in thought.

The six of them had been summoned to school that day for the first of many special summer classes that were held for those hero students who wanted to do some supervised training over the summer. As the first years had their training camp planned in a few weeks time, these classes were to be like a final assessment of sorts that dealt with the more delicate side of heroics. Or so they had been told and that really, was all they had been told.

Thankfully as it was summer, the dress code had been relaxed some, which was why they were all dressed in varying stages of their school tracksuits. For Toru, this meant a combination of her old sports uniform and her current one. The UA tracksuit top hung open & loose over an Edgeshot t-shirt, something which had been sort of tucked into her 3-E khaki shorts. A pair of brightly coloured sandals sat atop her feet and sweat glistened on her toes as she basked in the coolness of the air conditioning that was blasting throughout the school. In turn, each of her classmates wore something similar; the tracksuit pants matched with a nondescript t-shirt here, the tracksuit jacket wrapped around a waist there and long sleeves/pant legs rolled up to expose warm limbs.

"Settle down" Aizawa blithely greeted, slamming the door open with all of his usual grace as he sauntered over to the podium.

Um… Toru blinked dumbly as her gaze alighted upon the most flamboyant cat-themed shirt that she had ever seen. Much like his students, their teacher had worn something a little more casual; this particular something being a brightly coloured cat-themed button down beneath his iconic capture scarf and matching pants. Hair tied back and sleeping bag nowhere to be seen, it was an odd sight indeed. Though the outfit did remind the albino of her short stint with their homeroom teacher, wherein she had discovered an unending love for feline paraphernalia in his home.

"…We'll be running this course multiple times with small groups from your class" Aizawa instructed, unperturbed by the odd looks he was getting. "Today, we'll be starting with the six of you. Just so you know, this will be harder than a regular class. Prepare yourselves"

I wonder what they'll have us do? Toru nibbled at her lower lip in thought, Is this gonna be like those other times when he threatened expulsion?

"In this master class, you'll be tasked with saving innocent bystanders and capturing a villain"

"Huh?" Bakugou perked up at the mention of the mysterious villain.

"WE'RE NOT JUST STUDYING!" Ochako & Midoriya cheered in chorus, throwing their hands skywards as they jumped to their feet. "WE'RE PLAYING HEROES!"

"Ahem~!" Aizawa barely had to spare them a derisive glare before they were quietly sulking back in their seats. "This should be obvious, but villains commit many different types of crimes. You six will be dispatched to a scene and will need to determine what has happened there. Whether or not a villain was actually at fault, whether or not you should fight and so on. We will be judging your ability to assess the situation as well as how well you defuse it"

This is not going to be easy. Toru swallowed, 'Coz this is definitely the class with the 'Problem Children'…It's probably why we're going first, too.

"Welcome your instructors—" Aizawa leered.

SLAM!

"—I AM HERE!" All Might burst onto the scene with his usual dramatic flair. The back door in the classroom hung precariously off of its hinges as they all spun to greet the hero. "SNEAKING IN THROUGH THE BACK DOOR!"

"All Might's teaching us?!" Midoriya squeaked in glee. Toru wasn't sure why he was so excited about the prospect, it wasn't like the Symbol of Peace wasn't one of their regular teachers.

"You're looking extra muscly today!" Ochako greeted, "Huzzah!"

"AHAHAHA!" All Might cackled manically as he posed this way and that.

"He's not the only one today" Aizawa commanded their attention back to the front of the room where some of their other teachers stood primly in a line next to their homeroom teacher, looking just as smartly dressed in casual wear not oft seen inside these school halls. "Cementoss, Midnight and Present Mic will be assisting as well. They'll be acting as special trainers. Now, let's get started! Head to Ground Beta and we'll begin"

"ALRIGHT!"


Adorned in their respective heroic costumes, the teens stood gathered together in some nondescript back alleyway of training Ground Beta. "I see cardboard police cutouts" Midoriya noted, peering around the corner and into the street.

"This must be where the crime is taking place, ribbit" Tsu agreed as she joined her fellow greenette at the end of the alley.

"I'll brief you on the situation" Aizawa drawled as he lay about the top of an old dumpster like an alleycat. "There's been an attack in this jewellery store. The employees and customers have been taken hostage and are barricaded inside. The number of villains and bystanders is unknown. As Pro Heroes, you've been asked by the police to intervene and resolve this incident to the best your abilities"

"Right" Midoriya nodded.

"I won't be answering any questions, so verify the situation yourself and act accordingly"

"Yessir!" They chorused.

"With that, let the Capture Training begin"

BEEP!

"Okay, what's our first move?" Ochako queried, peering around the corner as they watched the bank from their alleyway as the bell to start sounded.

"That's easy" Midoriya replied, eyes grazing over the numerous cardboard cut-out cops. "First we need to figure out how many villains and hostages there are inside"

"Uraraka" Said Bakugou, garnering the gravity girl's attention.

"Hm?" She hummed inquisitively, turning to face the explosive blonde.

"You go"

"Me? By myself?"

"If we all run in together, the villains will notice us. But you can fly up to the top window and not get caught"

"He's right" Toru nodded in agreement.

"I'm on it!" Ochako agreed determinedly.

"But isn't that dangerous?" Tsu worried.

"It is" Todoroki replied as he fished out his phone, "But we can distract the villains to give you a way in" Not a moment later and the aforementioned cellphone began to chirp its ringtone, breaking through the tense atmosphere which had blanketed them. Todoroki remained stoic and calm as he answered the phone, pausing momentarily to pass on the information to his awaiting peers.

"…"

"All Might's pretending to be the criminal" Todoroki reported, hand over the receiver before returning to the call and tried his best to drag out the conversation with the villain for as long as possible. "I'm a Pro Hero and you are?"

"…"

"Are the hostages alive?"

"…"

Off to the side, Toru coached Ochako through a couple of the hand signals that the 3-E students had made up to communicate with each other. Essentially, it was like a bastardised version of sing language and just random little gestures (nose picking, cheek scratching etc). "Tell us how many villains are on your right hand and how many hostages on your left" Two disembodied gloves flashed through the two signs as she showed the brunette what to do.

"Yeah, okay" Ochako nodded as she readied herself to make the trip skywards. Taking a deep breath as she turned weightless and with a short run-up later, the gravity girl surged upwards, floating ever-so-gently towards the outcropping bank roof.

Crossing her fingers and toes as she silently prayed for Ochako's safety, Toru watched as her friend bopped along the air currents and up onto the outcropping in question. It wasn't until she flashed a thumbs up back towards the alley, that Toru released the breath she didn't know she'd been holding. Behind her, Todoroki's conversation with the villain was still (miraculously) going on, though you could tell from how he shifted that it wasn't going well for them.

"…Release the innocents and we'll consider your demands" Todoroki demanded, slowly losing his patience.

"…"

"Very well, but first I need information on who you've got inside. Is anyone hurt?"

"SOMEONE WILL BE IF YOU DON'T STOP TAKING YOUR SWEET TIME! HURRY UP AN GET LOST DAMMIT!" They didn't need Todoroki to relay that bit, and honestly, Toru thought her ears might be ringing from that shout.

"…One villain and three hostages" Toru translated after a moment's notice as Ochako paused to peer inside.

"Nice Uraraka!" Midoriya whisper-shouted, "Stay there! Wait for us!"

"Ha!" Toru's eyes blew wide as she watched the gravity girl clap her hands together in prayer. Enemy approaching. "Quick! Hide!"

"It's All M—I mean, the villain!" Midoriya hissed, peering out from behind the corner as Toru hauled Bakugou back by the collar and out of sight. The blonde quickly threw her hand off of him, but remained hidden in the shadows for the time being.

"He's checking to make sure that everyone's gone" Todoroki added as he joined the greenette at his shoulder, eyes narrowed at the horned man.

"In that case, we need to stay hidden" Tsu commented. "We can't put those hostages in danger!"

"How do we help them then?" Toru asked. "Is there, maybe, a back door we can use?"

"…AAAAAAAHHH!" Bakugou thundered as he jumped to his feet in frustration. "THIS IS STUPID—!"

"Ah! Kaachan!" Midoriya panicked, already well aware of what his childhood friend was about to do.

"Bakugou…What're you doing?!" Toru demanded, eyes narrowed at the blonde as she contemplated tackling him to the ground.

"He's planning to charge straight in" Todoroki replied in his stead.

"Obviously" Bakugou rolled his eyes as he turned to leave. Without really thinking about it, Toru stepped in front of him.

SLAP!

"Eek! She hit Kaachan…!" Midoriya breathed, unable to believe that someone (other than his little circle of close friends) had the balls to actually do that.

"You idiot!" Toru cried, hands balled up in frustration as Bakugou cupped the reddening cheek she had slapped. "There are hostages in there!"

"Did you just hit me…?" Bakugou hissed, eyes narrowed on the invisible girl in front of him. If she had been aiming to calm him down, it wasn't working. Instead deft fingers pilfered a roll of bandages from Midoriya's pocket when he stepped up to try and placate the blonde.

"A-ah! Calm down Kaachan!" Midoriya stammered, hands raised in surrender, "I'm sure she didn't meaning anything by it!"

"No, I did" Toru refuted as she unrolled the bandages and then proceeded to loop them around both his wrists & tie his hands behind him. "Because if you actually stopped to think about it, you'd know that running in there guns blazing could make everything so much worse—!"

"WHAT'RE YOU DOING?! LET GO OF ME!" Bakugou struggled as Toru looped back around, pulling the knot tight as she did so. Next to her, Midoriya puzzled over how the bandages had left his person without him even knowing.

"—One wayward spark could hit—say the gas line—and then we've got barbecued hostages on our hands!" She steamrolled on, dusting her hands off in accomplishment as the blonde struggle & sparked against his restraints.

"I SAID, LEMME GO!"

"…Did I do the right thing, Deku?" Toru turned to the greenette, suddenly unsure.

"No" Midoriya shook his head as he watched the ends of the gauze catch alight.

"Where did I go wrong?"

"Well, you used bandages"

"What should I have used then?"

"Ah, it wouldn't have mattered" He replied, pulling her back by the elbow as he stepped away from his explosive childhood friend.

FZZT~BOOM!

"I'll fire off a bunch of explosions and take down that villain!" Bakugou growled as he stomped passed, eyes narrowing briefly at Toru as he went. "You guys can save the hostages or whatever! I don't care!"

"You're being way too irresponsible!" Tsu piped up; though her words seemed to just roll right off of his back.

"What're you talking about? He's right there in the window! THIS IS OUR CHANCE!

KA~BOOM!

"…Well, would you look at that" Toru blinked as she watched the front door of the bank (and all the little cardboard cutout policemen) go up in smoke.

"In my experience" Midoriya sighed almost fondly, "When it comes to his stubbornness, nothing can hold him back"

"DAMMIT!" Bakugou's bellow echoed out of the building and the smoke, "I WON'T LET YOU HAVE THOSE HOSTAGES!"

"He could do with tempering his temper though" Tsu added as they made to move after him.

"Pretty sure only Kiri can do that" Toru replied with a hum. Just once, she wanted to walk in through the front door!

Racing after their teammate, it didn't take them long to realise just how quickly things had changed for them and just how quickly they had gone down hill. Through the smoke billowing from the front doors, Midoriya (who was at the front of the pack) was able to pick out the fact that the horned villain no longer stood stationary at the window like he had been previously. Toru's gut clenched in fear; who knows what he could be doing to the hostages—that explosion could've made things a thousand times worse! And it did.

The teenagers had barely stepped across the threshold when they froze, eyes blown wide and hearts racing as they stared down at the prone & bloody form of the villain. Within hand's reach lay a bloody serrated knife and beyond that, the frightened figures of the hostages each huddled into a different corner of the store. But Toru wasn't focused on that, instead she was far more preoccupied with the overlapping image of her previous sunshine teacher who had lain splayed out across the floor just like that. Downed by a knife not too dissimilar to the one next to the blonde at their feet. The only difference was the blood. Where Koro-sensei had disappeared in a flurry of light & tears, All Might lay in a large puddle of blood; thick & viscous as it pooled outwards and clung to their shoes. And then there were the hostages. Scattered about the room as they were, with hands bound and looks of terror upon their faces, Toru was reminded of the countless victims who had fallen to Yoshiwara's Hunting days; her grandmother, most of all.