Rule #26a: Frustration of defeat equals greater growth

With the first week of the summer holidays dedicated to the I-Expo excursion and the last two weeks dedicated to the training camp, the second week was left alone for the students to do as they pleased. Dance classes had been placed on hold for the time being, but each of the students within the class had been told to practise as much as possible over the break as they could, anyway—Oishii had been particularly put out that he hadn't been able to attend the expo, but had made Toru promise to bring him back a souvenir.

Anyway, so it was that the girls decided to hire out the school pool; as it turned out, the boys had a similar idea. Three guesses who thought of it and three guesses who bungled it up. Toru thought as she watched from afar as Kaminari and Mineta wept crocodile tears at the poolside. Undoubtedly, the pair must've assumed that the girls would've been in their bikinis and variations thereupon; but it was not to be. With just enough fat on her figure to be labelled as 'squishy' Toru fit nicely into the navy school swimsuit; accented by blocks of white and red down the sides of the almost wetsuit-like style.

The impromptu pool party had been a good idea (one that had been suggested during the last week of school when the girls were discussing what they would be doing over summer break) and a nice change from the excitement of the school year and the events at the I-Expo, from the week previous. Following the defeat of the boss villain, the students had been treated to barbecue and ice cream by the Symbol of Peace. Of course, a fair amount of paperwork had to be filled out—their reports of the incident and so on—as well as the press, which had hunted them like bloodhounds throughout the rest of their stay on the island.

Saying farewell to Kayano and Rio had been bittersweet, though the trio had agreed to meet up at some point just to hang out. And of course, there was still their reunion at their old mountaintop classroom at Kunugigaoka Junior High, which had been jointly purchased by the students of class 3-E and turned into a pseudo memorial for both of their fallen teachers, to look forward to.

"Oh hey! Hi, Mineta" Greeted Asui from down the line, where all of the girls were going through their array of warm-ups and stretches.

"I didn't know you guys would be here" Jiro commented. Toru smirked as she watched the pair of boys turn up the dramatics at having their plans foiled by the clueless do-gooders around them. On one side of the pool, the girls were gathered warming up before they got in, and on the other side sat the boys of 1-A as they waited for everyone to arrive for their 'endurance training'. With a fearsome Iida—cap and all—spearheading the boys' training session, the girls quickly set to work playing several games of water polo and monkey-in-the-middle.

Toru—who would never admit it—missed a couple of shots headed her way, due to hungry golden eyes that kept wandering over to the toned and dripping abs of their shirtless classmates, as she shamelessly drooled over them. So many gorgeous muscles! Toru drooled, Mm! Who knew how ripped our classmates were?! Of course, she wasn't the only one; she could've sworn that Yaoyorozu and Ochako had spared a red-cheeked glance or two in the boys' direction as well (specifically towards Todoroki and Midoriya respectively).

"Get ready for it!" Ochako sang as she hit the beach ball up into the air, making Toru's attention snap back to the game at hand "Serve!"

"Mine!" Mina cried as she leapt from the water like a dolphin to hit the ball.

"Ribbit!" Asui croaked, whipping her tongue against the plastic ball in a very frog-like manner and back out into the open water.

"Nn!" Jiro grunted, using her earjacks to effortlessly smack it back.

"Got it!" Toru dived for the ball, letting it bounce harmlessly off of her back and off towards the left as she all but bellyflopped into the water.

"Set!" Yaoyorozu chirped, jumping from the water to perform a perfect set. Laughter spilled from the girls' lips as joyfully they hit the beach ball back and forth, trying their best to keep it in the pool. Occasionally, a pool lane would get in the way or one of the girls would sink below the water before shooting up like a flying fish to catch the ball. Sometimes underhanded tricks were doled out when they ducked under the water and try to yank another girl under with them, or when someone splashed water into their faces. In the end, all their well-thought out games just turned into playful wrestling and splash fights as they tossed the ball back and forth like the kids they were.

"What's going on over there?" This time, Ochako caught the ball headed her way as she looked over to where the boys were taking a break.

"I dunno" Toru shrugged. Seating herself on top of the pool lane next to Mina (which sank a little with her added weight), the invisible girl slowly kicked her feet under the water and turned to watch the scenario play out alongside the other girls.

"…You'd better!" Bakugou snarled, sporting his typical scowl as he stalked forward towards an unassuming Midoriya and Iida, with Kirishima on his heels who trying his best to placate him. It didn't appear to be working. "The next time I beat you, I want you to be at your strongest, you damn nerd!"

"Kaachan!" Midoriya blanched at the snarling blonde who was steadily approaching.

"Hey! I got your message!" Kirishima danced around to the front of Bakugo and swung an arm out, stopping him from going any further, "Sorry I'm late! Took a while to convince Bakugou come out"

"So Deku—" Bakugou's fists lit up with miniature explosions that crackled and popped in time with his threat, "—You wanna settle who's the best between us, right now?! Huh?!"

"No!" Midoriya panicked, nervously waving his hands in front of his face as if he was trying to swat a fly "That's not it!"

"Hm, actually, y'know what?" Iida hummed in thought, "We could make this training a contest"

"Heh?" Midoriya glanced towards Iida in fear as he realised what was about to happen.

"Hey everyone!" Iida called out to the rest of the boys, "I propose we see which of the boys can swim 50m the fastest!"

"Do you think we should help them?" Ochako tilted her head in question at the announcement.

"Who knows? It could be fun!" Yaoyorozu agreed.

"Alright! Let's go!" Mina cheered as the gaggle of girls swam to the edge and emerged from the water, shaking off any excess droplets from their hair and face as they did so.

"A friendly race!" Iida called as the girls trotted closer.

"Yeah!" Kaminari cheered.

"That sounds fun!" Sero agreed, rising to his feet.

"Iida! Why don't you let us help you out with this?" Yaoyorozu offered, the girls either side of her wearing matching grins as they surveyed the boys before them.

"Yes, please" Iida accepted.

"And Quirks?" Ojiro asked, "Can we use them?"

"We're at school, so there shouldn't be a problem with that" Iida replied, ignoring Bakugou's toothy grin, "However, we can't cause damage to our classmates or the building"

As Iida set down the ground rules, Bakugou shook of Kirishima's grip and stalked forwards towards Midoriya who met him head on. "I'm gonna annihilate you, Deku!" Bakugou decreed with fists clenched at his sides. "And you too, Icy-hot, you bastard!" He shot over his shoulder towards Todoroki who was relaxing off to the side with a soda can gripped loosely in his fist, frost slowly gathering on the orange aluminium. Todoroki merely acknowledged the threat with a small nod of his head before the first race of boys gathered themselves at one end of the pool.

Yaoyorozu produced a silver whistle which she hung around her neck as she stood next to the boys lining up at one end of the pool. The rest of the girls found themselves scattered along the sides of the pool and towards the end, acting as judges for the races. The rest of the boys were lined up next to Yaoyorozu as they waited for their turns.

"Alright! Everyone on your marks!" Yaoyorozu warned, making Mineta, Tokoyami, Koda, Bakugou and Kaminari fall into diving positions up on the starting blocks. "Get set!" TWEET! At the sound of the whistle, the boys exploded from the starting blocks and dove into the pool, all intent on winning the impromptu competition—all except for Bakugou, that is. Instead of diving into the water as his opponents had done, Bakugou propelled himself across the water with a series of explosion that landed him in first place at the other end of the pool.

"HOW WAS THAT, YOU SIDE KICKS?!" Bakugou crowed as he spun around to face his classmates.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" Sero demanded, outraged.

"YOU DIDN'T EVEN TOUCH THE WATER!" Kirishima tacked on.

"IT'S CALLED FREESTYLE SWIMMING!" Bakugou snapped back, small explosions igniting his palms.

"We should've known something like this would happen" Ochako sighed, watching the blonde predictably explode at the accusations thrown his way.

"He's not exactly one for following the rules, ribbit" Asui agreed.

Next up was Sero, Aoyama, Todoroki, Sato and Kirishima. Just as the previous racers had done, the boys fell into diving positions at Yaoyorozu's call, but as soon as the whistle sounded they exploded off of the starting blocks and used their Quirks to their fullest advantage, some barely even scraping the water. Sero launched a length of tape towards the boundary chainlink fence that surrounded the pool, making Mina duck out of the way. Aoyama, used his bellybutton laser to propel himself at least halfway across the pool before his stomach cramped up and he collapsed into Sero; sending the two flying into the water below. Kirishima swam like no tomorrow, and Todoroki cooly skated across the water's surface like a surfer on steroids as he left a trail of ice in his wake. Jumping from the ice, he landed on the concrete at the other end of the pool, much to Kaminari and Mineta's ire.

"Last group, on your marks!" Yaoyorozu called as Iida, Midoriya, Ojiro and Shoji took their positions atop the starting blocks. "Get set!" TWEET! This time almost all of the racers took to the water. Iida, zoomed along the pool lane with arms out wide and engines purring as Ojiro dove beneath the water, using his tail as a propeller. Shoji transformed all of his arms into extra hands to push himself through the water, like an odd sort of duck and Midoriya ignited himself in green lighting and augmented his muscles, increasing his strength and in turn, his strokes. It ended up being a close call between Midoriya and Iida, however the green-haired boy easily overtook the engine hero and slapped his hand against the pool's edge mere seconds before his friend could.

"You bet me" Iida was pulled from the water by the shorter boy, "Good work"

"You were amazing out there too, Iida!" Midoriya praised.

"Midoriya…" Todoroki mumbled as he watched the interaction with hawk-like eyes as his thoughts turned to previous interactions during the Sports Festival and the Stain incident that showed him who the green-haired boy really was, and his own powers too. Breaking from his thoughts, he met both Midoriya and Iida's gazes, the three of them seemingly sharing the same thought.

So dramatic! Toru rolled her eyes as she licked at one of the citrus-flavoured popsicles that Yaoyorozu had bought with her earlier, mixed in with the slowly melting ice contained with the chilly bin and the islands of fruity sodas. Next to her, Mina was sucking at a juicy red raspberry one that was staining her lips like badly-applied lipstick.

"Alright!" Iida clapped his hands, garnering everyone's attention. "It's time for the final race. Bakugou, Todoroki, Midoriya: as winners of each heat, you'll fight for first place. Understand?"

"Yes" Todoroki nodded.

"Got it!" Said Midoriya.

"Listen up, Scarface!" Bakugou snarled, "Don't you dare hold back like you did at the Sports Festival! Bring everything you've got!"

"I will" Todoroki replied.

"You too! Fight to win!" Bakugou turned to Midoriya.

"Yeah" Midoriya nodded. "I will, I promise"

"They do know it's only a swimming race, right?" Ochako chuckled nervously at the dramatic and hot-blooded decrees.

"Ribbit" Asui croaked, neither answering nor dismissing the question, though she too, wondered if the boys were still aware of the fact.

"Then the 50m final race will now begin!" This time Iida stood with whistle in hand as their classmates cheered for each of the different swimmers.

"Blow 'em away, Bakugou!"

"Don't kill the other swimmers!"

"You got this, Todoroki!"

"Yeah! You can do it, Deku!"

"Woo!"

"Do your best everyone!"

"Now, on your marks" Iida raised his hand in the air as the racers took up their poisons atop the starting blocks, determination engraved into their faces. Explosions already littered Bakugou's palms, ice climbed up Todoroki's right arm in preparation and Midoriya sparkled green. "Get set…" TWEET!

Again, the racers exploded from the starting blocks like bats outta hell, only this time they seemed to pause in midair before all three bellyflopped into the water below; each of the sporting looks of confusion. "What happened?" Kaminari asked.

"Why aren't they using their Quirks?" Sero questioned.

"It's 5pm" Aizawa announced his presence, making the rest of the class turn to face him where he stood in the doorway with his Quirk activated. "Authorised pool time is officially over, hurry up and go home"

"C'me on! Just one second!" Kaminari whined.

"We were finally getting to the good part!" Complained Sero.

"Are you questioning me?" Aizawa glared.

"No, Sensei" The class chorused and they shuffled off to the changing rooms and out the door.