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 twelve: Fallout and prep for finals
"How is this my fault?!"
While the Class 1-B students were consoling the Class 1-A students over how Class 1-A member Tenya Iida was killed during his internship under the similarly killed Manual, the main UA staff were having a meeting to discuss how Iida's death could possibly affect UA as a whole, given that they've already seen five of the Class 1-A students, plus the pro hero Thirteen, killed so far since the current school year had started.
During the meeting, Ryo shot an accusation at Aizawa, the homeroom teacher responsible for class 1-A. "His older brother was crippled into retirement by the Hero Killer, Aizawa!" Ryo barked at the underground hero, "And said Hero Killer was operating in the Hosu area at the time of the internships! Manual was a pro hero working in Hosu during that exact same time, and he was the only pro hero Iida had expressed interest in working for! You do the math!"
Leaning back in his seat, Sekijiro folded his arms over his chest. "I have to agree with Ryo. It was painfully obvious that Iida was truly aiming to get revenge on Stain for what he did to his pro hero older brother. Why didn't you prevent him from getting the internship with Manual?"
"Hey now," Hizashi spoke up, "The details of the investigation that made the news pointed out that it was Manual who led the charge against Stain, and that he just took Iida along for the ri-"
"That..." Nezu spoke up, interrupting Hizashi in the process, "...Is actually a lie that the HPSC spread because they wanted to protect UA's reputation as much as possible, as we're still the top heroics academy in the nation." Letting out a troubled and resigned sigh, Nezu went on, "The truth of the matter is that it truly was Iida who ran in against Stain, which forced Manual into rushing in to try to get Iida out of there. Iida and Manual, along with Native who was there as well, were killed."
The Hunting Dog Hero turned back to look at Aizawa. "...I repeat. Why didn't you prevent Iida from getting the internship with Manual?"
"I told him not to do anything Manual tells him not to do," Aizawa defended, "I figured that would have been sufficient to ensure that Iida kept his nose clean. Iida was an obedient, model student, so I figured he'd listen to what I told him."
Shrugging, Sekijiro said, "Well obviously Iida cared more about avenging what Stain did to his older brother than obeying the words of UA staff. And because of you making the assumption that Iida would always obey a teacher's word no matter what, UA has lost a sixth student this year! And we haven't even gotten to finals yet!"
"Sekijiro, that's enough," Nezu lightly scolded. The animal principal of UA let out a resigned sigh again. "...This isn't the first time in UA history where not being careful where a hero course student has their internship has led to harm to a student, believe it or not. Granted, this IS the first of said kind of incident that led to a death, but the point is that UA needs to be more careful where students have their internships at."
All Might, who was also sitting in on the meeting, let out a troubled, tired sigh. "...It's a terrible shame what had happened to Young Iida. What's worse is that I bet he would have been ace in the written portion of the finals."
Nezu nodded in agreement. "Yes, Iida was indeed one of the best and brightest in the first year hero course. Hopefully the student who will take the transfer into 1-A to fill up the spot Iida left beh-"
"We're going to let Aizawa get another new student?" Ryo said in an incredulous tone, interrupting Nezu in the process, "After his reckless obliviousness and self assured ego let one get killed?"
"The hero course classes of UA need to be at max capacity," Nezu pointed out. Turning to look at Aizawa, Nezu added, "Although I hope this will be the last incident where a student in Class 1-A dies on your watch."
The underground hero nodded once in understanding, still feeling trapped between a rock and a hard place. "...Believe you me, Nezu," Aizawa replied, "I never intend for any of my students to die." The profiles from the last time Aizawa got to pick non hero course students to transfer into Class 1-A were still valid (aside from the five he chose the first time, because he already chose them), so all that he had to do was go over them again and pick who he felt would be the best fit to fill in the shoes that the late Tenya Iida had left behind.
After that was taken care of, both Aizawa and Sekijiro had to get their respective students prepped for the finals. Said finals would be in two parts, written where they'd be quizzed on their knowledge in their academic subjects like math and science and those guys, and practical where they'd be paired off to face opponents. However, the UA teachers worried that the use of robotic opponents wouldn't cut it this time around, given the experiences that UA has had this year.
A... different touch... was going to be needed for the finals practical this year.
The following school day, the students of Class 1-B were in their homeroom class as Sekijiro went over a few things with them. "Class, the finals are fast approaching," Sekijiro said, "That being said, you all better study up. You will be tested on everything that you've learned so far this year."
The class 1-B students were all a bit excited about the finals, although that excitement for some was more worry and fear than standard excitement. Izuku, however, felt confident that he can get through the written portion of the finals. He was a rather studious individual, and the teachers who covered academic subjects at UA did praise the green haired boy over how he consistently got very good grades in their classes; one of them even went so far as to set Izuku as the standard of what every UA first year ought to be like (in that teacher's class, at least).
Izuku never received such warm treatment at his schools prior to UA. He still scored well, but his teachers were more or less indifferent towards him back then; the closest he got to a compliment from a teacher was when one told him that 'at least he can help his classmates who had quirks get better grades'. The only other student in class with Izuku who got good grades like him was Bakugo, and he was far from ever being willing to help his classmates study, more or less preferring to look out for only himself.
...And thinking of Bakugo actually got Izuku thinking. How was class 1-A doing today, given that not only were they also going to start studying for the finals, but that they were also going to have a new classmate join them from another first year class that's not a hero course class. It still made the green haired boy sad knowing his friend Iida was gone, but 1-A, as well as the entire school as a whole, had to move on eventually.
...
Over in Class 1-A, the students were looking at their new classmate who was now occupying the desk that Iida used to sit in. He looked vaguely like the late Monoma, but slightly taller, his blonde hair was a more sandy blonde than pure yellow blonde also it wasn't as neatly combed (actually it was a bit wild), and he had a very slight aggressive hint in his expression, although nowhere near as bad as the aggressive hint in Bakugo's expression.
"Now that we got Daisuke Shizuo here settled into 1-A," Aizawz said to his students as a whole while gesturing to the new boy, "We can get started on prepping for the finals."
"Sir," Yaoyorozu began as she raised a hand, "What will the finals entail?"
Lowering the hand he was using to gesture to the now identified Shizuo with, Aizawa remarked, "Good question, Yaoyorozu. Basically, the finals will be divided up into two parts, a written portion and a practical portion. The written portion will test you on your progress in the academic subjects, so basically math, science, history, language arts. You get the idea."
Holding up a hand, Shizuo asked, "And the practical?"
"That, actually," Aizawa began, "Will be a surprise." Looking to his class, Aizawa went on, "After the finals, there will be a summer training camp that 1-A and 1-B will be going on. However..." Glaring at his students, the underground hero went on in a serious tone, "...Those in this class who fail one or both parts of the finals will have remedial classes."
The 1-A students all tensed up out of worry. "...If you all study hard, you'll be fine," Aizawa said, "So you all had better study hard." The atmosphere cast on the 1-A students had made a lot of them rather gloomy, especially those who felt that they'd be on the bottom of the academic totem pole among their fellow Class 1-A peers.
Later that day after classes were over, Aizawa was going over some info in the teacher's office lounge when Hizashi and Nemuri came over to him. "What's the sitch, Sho?" Hizashi asked.
Aizawa pushed himself a little bit away from the desk he was at while holding a packet. "I was going over the midterm placements of the students in my class when it came to how they rank against one another in their academics. The results surprised me, especially since this info has been updated to include Shizuo who started in 1-A today."
Nemuri then received the info from Aizawa, which was printed on sheets of paper stapled together. She and Hizashi, who was looking over Nemuri's left ahoilder, then proceeded to go over the information;
1st- Bakugo, Katsuki
2nd- Yaoyorozu, Momo
3rd- Todoroki, Shoto
4th- Yamamaya, Sakaki
5th- Shinso, Hitoshi
6th- Shizuo, Daisuke
7th- Mahou, Shinra
8th- Jiro, Kyoka
9th- Gomu, Omono
10th- Ojiro, Mashirao
11th- Shoji, Mezo
12th- Kurata, Osana
13th- Tokoyami, Fumikage
14th- Kirishima, Eijiro
15th- Uraraka, Ochaco
16th- Sero, Hanta
17th- Aoyama, Yugo
18th- Hagakure, Toru
19th- Kaminari, Denki
20th- Ashido, Mina
Looking over the information, Nemuri looked a bit concerned. "...Wow, a lot of the girls are doing worse than I would have guessed."
The underground hero arched a wry eyebrow at his co-worker. "It's their fault for thinking about boys and fashion and whatever it is girls their age like to think about, rather than keep up with their studies. However I was able to sufficiently stress the importance of passing the finals to all of my students, so hopefully that'll encourage not just the girls but the boys as well to succeed."
Hizashi looked from the info packet on the Class 1-A midterm results to Aizawa, then back to the info packet, then back to Aizawa, and kept that up for a bit until he finally settled on Aizawa. "I got a voice in my head telling me, Sho," Hizashi began, "That there's a lot more to some of your kids not doing as hot as we had anticipated than them simply being distracted by things that are known to be distractions to them."
"It doesn't matter what the real reason is," Aizawa replied, "What matters is that they all apply themselves to their studies as much as possible."
Nemuri looked from the midterm rankings for Class 1-A to Aizawa, then focused on him a bit. "Well while I do agree that, as their teacher, you need to be firm with them, don't you think that you're a bit too firm with them?"
Aizawa arched a wry eyebrow at his colleague. "We can't afford to slack off right now, Nemuri. We lost a colleague, and the number of students we've lost is now up to six. What we need to do now is to work harder than ever. Not just the students, but us staff members as well."
After a few silent moments, Hizashi gave a chuckle. "...There's no arguing with you, is there Sho?"
"I'm starting to think he won't allow anyone to argue with him," Nemuri offered dryly.
"Trust me," Aizawa said as he proceeded to walk away, "I'll get my students to the point that they can stand with the best pro heroes out there. The results that I'll get will speak for themselves."
The rest of that week was spent by the 1-A and 1-B students studying for their finals. Some studied in groups, some studied alone, and some did a mix of study and continuing to train their bodies and their quirks. Time flew by a lot quicker than what most of them expected, but sure enough the day of the finals came, where their academics would be put to the ultimate test to see how well they've gotten down their education thus far.
To the great relief of some of the teachers, all forty of the combined students in the first year hero course classes passed the written portion of their finals, although Nezu noted with some concern that some (in Aizawa's class) did so by the skins of their teeth, not that Nezu chose to share that info with Aizawa or anyone else lest he dampen the mood of the teachers happy that all forty of the 1-A and 1-B students had passed.
Then came the time for the practical portion of the finals...
...
Sekijiro stood outside a training grounds located on UA grounds, with some other staff members including Ryo standing behind him. "Kan-sensei," Itsuka said as she raised a hand, "Why are so many other senseis here?"
Gesturing to his students, Sekijiro explained, "Under normal circumstances, the practical portion of the finals would see you kids divvy up into ten teams of two and face off against some robots, not unlike what you all faced in the entrance exams, aside from Honenuki and Tokage due to the both of them getting in on recommendation." Gently shaking his head, Sekijiro went on, "But due to cases where some of your year mates encountered real villains, training against robots can only get you all so far."
Stepping forward, Ryo said, "That's where the rest of us come in. While you'll still be divided up into ten teams of two, rather than those teams facing off against robots, the teams will each face off against a UA staff member."
The 1-B students all looked surprised by that revelation. "We're going to be facing you senseis?" Izuku asked, looking surprised.
The Blood Hero nodded in the affirmative. "Don't worry, us staff will be equipped with weights to handicap us so that you kids will have a fairer chance at winning. Anyway, the rules for passing the practical portion of the finals is simple. The team of two students must either capture the staff member they face, defeat the staff member, or escape through the exit gate in the area that you'll have your practical in."
"Similar to how you all were paired up in the Battle Trial exercise near the beginning of the current school year," Ryo said, "The teams of ten will be determined randomly and by drawing lots. The staff members you can potentially face will also be determined this way. Heroes in the field will never know who they have to work with, nor will they know who they'll end up facing. Us randomizing the matches like this is our attempt to prep you for that."
After everything was explained, the Class 1-B students were made to draw lots. The teams ended up being Izuku and Juzo, Yosetsu and Nirengeki, Itsuka and Togaru, Setsuna and Yui, Pony and Kinoko, Ibara and Reiko, Bondo and Sen, Shihai and Jurota, Kosei and Manga, and finally Tetsutetsu and Hiryu.
Then came the time for drawing lots to determine which team faced what staff member. To the surprise of Izuku and Juzo, they ended up getting Ryo, who they know is the Hunting Dog Hero Hound Dog. Soon the rest of the 1-B students drew their lots, and aside from Yosetsu and Nirengeki getting Sekijiro, there was nothing all too shocking. Eventually, when all pairs got staff members to face off against, they proceeded to make their way into the areas of the training grounds, one pair per area, and proceeded to wait for the practical portion of their finals to start.
As he and Juzo walked into their area to wait for Ryo-sensei to come in to face them, Izuku said, "Well Honenuki, I'm as ready as you are."
"Facing off against a UA staff member," Juzo said, "Even though Ryo-sensei will be given weights to handicap him to make things fair for us, it'll still be tough. I mean, he IS a pro hero, after all." Turning to look at Izuku, Juzo went on, "But of all the persons I could have at my side, I couldn't have asked for a better partner than you."
Izuku, a bit touched, smiled and nodded once. "...Thanks. Same right back at you." Together, the two boys proceeded to make their way out into their area, to wait for Ryo to show up so that they could face off against him in their finals practical.
Meanwhile, over at the bar that the League of Villains used as a base, Dabi with Spinner on his left and Toga on his right stood before a selection of potential recruits into the League of Villains. Dabi turned to his left and looked to the bar, where Giran the broker sat as Kurogiri served him a drink. "So these all are the new talent you were able to find for the League?" Dabi asked.
Giran nodded once in the affirmative. "Solid persons one and all, and ready to make a name against the pro heroes. Granted, I wasn't able to find anyone with a decent healing quirk like Spinner had asked about-"
"Damn it," Spinner interjected.
"-But having greater numbers will still help ease the burden," Giran finished.
Dabi turned to look at the new raw recruits. "...We'll start with the dapperly dressed man in the mask," Dabi said while pointing to a man wearing a mask, a top hat, a long sleeved long coat, gloves, pants, and shoes, also the man was carrying a walking cane.
The mysterious man did a (somewhat) exaggerated bow while tipping his hat. "I am the mysterious man of prestidigitation known as Mr. Compress," the now identified Mr. Compress said, "A dab hand in appropriating possessions and acquiring currency."
"I like your funny words, magic man," Toga said while pointing at Mr. Compress.
Dabi turned to someone wearing a full body suit that was mostly black but had some white. "And what about you?" Dabi asked.
"I'm Twice, and I want to fight the heroes but only do enough to beat them," the now identified Twice said as he gave his name, "I wanna rip limbs off the heroes and make them bleed!"
"Yeah, Twice there has a paradoxical personality," Giran explained while getting Dabi's attention, "Not to worry, he's still good."
Dabi turned to a man wearing shades and said man had fairly full lips; he wore a shirt under an open button shirt, pants, shoes, and he carried a rectangle shaped wrapped beam. "And what's your story?" Dabi asked.
"I'm Magne," said the now identifed Magne, "And I'm trying to prove that a lovely lady like me can still make a claim in the Japanese criminal underworld despite how I was assigned the wrong gender at birth."
"So you're trans," Spinner said, "Fair enough. Villainy is an equal opportunity business, and I fail to see why we here shouldn't follow that same business model."
Dabi offered a smirk, nodded in agreement. "More 'heroic' and 'legal' places tend to discriminate against persons for whatever reason, and transsexuality sadly tends to be used as an excuse. But not here among us." Dabi then turned to look at the shorter person, dressed in a male middle school uniform, and he wore a gas mask and WW2 style helmet. "What about you, kid?"
"I'm known as Mustard," began the now identified Mustard as he gave his name, "And I'm a firm believer in the virtues of function over form. Also I prefer to think and plan out rather than rush in."
"So you're a sharp tack," Dabi surmised, "Good." Dabi then turned to the tall, buff guy wearing a red sleeveless men's shirt, dark pants, and boots. The tall buff man also had scruffy blonde hair, and he was missing an eye. "And what abo-"
"I'm Muscular!" the tall buff man said as he gave his name as Muscular, "Just point me in the direction of a hero and I'll make 'em dead for you!"
Dabi was taken a bit aback by Muscular's... enthusiasm. Turning to look at the guy wrapped entirely in black leather save for his open mouth, Dabi said, "And last but not lea-"
"Flessssshhhhhhhhhshhhhhhhhh..." the wrapped up man said in a creepy tone, drool slowly falling from his open mouth. Dabi, Spinner, and even Toga all felt shivers go up their respective spines.
Even so, Dabi turned to look at Giran. "...Yeah, I'll take all of 'em."
"Excellent, my good man," Giran said, "Believe you me, they will not let you down."
Dabi turned to look at Twice, Mr. Compress, Magne, Muscular, Mustard, and the creepy wrapped guy who Giran identified as Moonfish. "Well gentlemen and one lady, welcome to the League," Dabi said, "We'll get started on planning our next big mission once we receive intel from our spy." Gesturing to the new recruits, Dabi said, "But for now, let's celebrate you all joining."
The new recruits into the League of Villains cheered, although Dabi kept himself wary of Muscular and Moonfish, as there was something about the both of them that put him on his guard. He hoped that he could figure out a way to eventually get rid of the both of them after he was sure that there would be no objections from anyone else.
Maybe he can somehow lose them during the next mission.
At the end of the day that day, Sekijiro was in the teachers' office lounge, going over a few forms. There was a mild but noticeable smile on his face, one that came from sincere pride in others. Ryo came over and sat down in the desk station next to the one Sekijiro sat at. The Hunting Dog Hero shook his left leg a bit, shaking off some earthen material as he did so.
Sekijiro, seeing his colleague sit down next to him, turned to face him, the smile on Sekijiro's face growing a bit. "My students have done me proud, Ryo," Sekijiro said.
Knowing what the Blood Hero was talking about, Ryo returned the smile. "Yeah, considering the fact that all twenty of your students passed both the written and practical portion of the finals." Ryo gave a single chuckle. "Midoriya and Honenuki got me good, I will admit."
Sekijiro couldn't help but chuckle himself; although he was indeed proud of all twenty of his students, he was particularly proud of Midoriya, of how far the little Green Bean had come since the first day of UA. The continuing growth that Midoriya was displaying ought to be more than sufficient to prove to Aizawa that he was wrong about Midoriya. Sekijiro couldn't wait for the right moment to rub this in Aiza-
*BAM*
Sekijiro and Ryo looked up and over when the both of them heard a loud banging sound, saw that it was a moderately annoyed looking Aizawa having thrown the door into the teachers' office lounge open to walk in while carrying a stack of files in his free arm. Hizashi and Nemuri both walked into the room after the underground hero, with Nemuri looking slightly more nervous than Hizashi.
The look on Aizawa's face made it clear to Sekijiro and Ryo that something was up. "...I'm guessing a few of your students failed the practical portion of the finals?" Ryo asked.
Aizawa dropped the stack of files onto the desk station immediately in front of the one Sekijiro sat at, while Hizashi and Nemuri proceeded to occupy the ones on Aizawa's left and right respectively. "Only saying 'a few' would be understating things, Inui," Aizawa said with an annoyed growl as he sat down at the desk station he had laid claim to, "All of my students, with the exceptions of Bakugo, Shinso, Mahou, and Shizuo, had failed the practical portion of the finals."
Both Sekijiro and Ryo looked surprised by that. "Sixteen of your twenty students had failed the practical portion of the finals?!" Ryo said, "Geez! You did remember to handicap the teachers they fought with those weights, right?"
"Of course I did," Aizawa replied, "But it still doesn't excuse how most of them failed." Opening a file that he pulled out, Aizawa went on, "And did you hear how badly Ectoplasm was injured when Tokoyami went berserk on him when Tokoyami and Kurata fought him?"
"Tokoyami..." Sekijiro said, sounding like he couldn't believe what he was hearing, "...Went berserk on Ectoplasm?"
"Although he'll live," Hizashi said in a meek and mildly scared tone, "Recovery Girl said that Ectoplasm can kiss both his pro hero career and his UA position goodbye due to the extent of the injuries Tokoyami had inflicted onto him."
Aizawa let out a resigned sigh. "Well this just means that all of my students save for four of the boys will have the remedial lessons at the summer training camp." Aizawa looked over to Sekijiro, shot him a look that made it clear his (Aizawa's) mood was very foul right now. "...I suppose that you saw more than four of your students pass the practical portion of their finals, huh Sekijiro?"
The Blood Hero was actually a little wary of how Aizawa might react, but ultimately he steeled his resolve. "...A few more than four passed, yeah. But it's nothing to-"
Sekijiro was cut off when Hizashi stood up, reached over, grabbed the files immediately in front of Sekijiro (over Sekijiro's objections), then sat back down. "...All twenty of Sekijiro's students passed the practical portion of their finals," Hizashi said.
Throwing his hands up into the air, Aizawa said, "Of course! Of course your entire class passed the whole of the finals flawlessly!"
"Hey, don't take your frustrations out on me, Shouta!" Sekijiro barked as he took back the forms Hizashi took from him, "Maybe you ought to take a step back and ease up on your students! I bet that most of them failed because they were at their wits end due to how hard you've been riding them!"
Aizawa scowled at Sekijiro. "If we're soft on them, then they'll fall a lot more often to the villains that have been targeting them."
"I didn't say we had to be soft on the students, I said that you ought to ease up a bit on yours," the Blood Hero pointed out, "I'm still firm with my students, but I also don't drive them into the ground!"
Arching a wry eyebrow at Sekijiro, Aizawa said, "You're talking like you could do better than me."
"My twenty versus you four!" Sekijiro pointed out, almost barked. Aizawa, set off by that, simply gathered his papers, got up, and left, with a worried Nemuri getting up to go after him.
Hizashi got up to go after Aizawa as well, but before leaving turned to look at Sekijiro and Ryo. "Well good going, you two," Hizashi said, "Setting Aizawa off like that."
"It only happened because you took the papers from Sekijiro and announced the results from his homeroom class," Ryo pointed out dryly.
Shrugging, Hizashi defended, "He would have found out anyway when he saw none of Sekijiro's students were in the remedial class at the summer training camp." Hizashi then ran out of the room to go after Aizawa and Nemuri, leaving Sekijiro and Ryo behind.
The Blood Hero let out a sigh, getting Ryo's attention. "...The summer training camp is going to be hell," Sekijiro said in a resigned tone, "I can already tell." Indeed the summer training camp for the first year hero course students was going to be hell, but not in the way that Sekijiro was feeling.
It was going to be a hell that no one could foresee.
END, CHAPTER TWELVE
Author's notes;
This chapter sees some fallout from the events in Hosu, which led to a new student being placed into Class 1-A to fill the void left by Iida. Then the students had to study and train for finals, and while all forty passed the written portion, only four 1-A boys and all of 1-B passed the practical. Why this is will not only be explored later, it's also going to have a significant impact on the training camp content.
Speaking of, another thing that will have a significant impact on the training camp content will be how the force from the League of Villains who will be attacking the training camp not only will have a few extra pairs of hands, but they will be aiming to capture a completely different person. Stay tuned for more.