Their Hero Academia –Chapter 21: Daisuke Shoji Lends a Hand
While he wasn't quite as early a riser as Toshi Midoriya or Katsumi Kirishima-Bakugo were, Daisuke Shoji was usually the third or fourth of Class 1-A to get up in the morning. Asuka Tokoyami occasionally beat him to third place, though not terribly often. He enjoyed the quiet of the early morning, especially before his floormates awoke and began their various brands of nonsense.
Takuma Sero and Kenta Sato were always up to something and both otherwise preferred to sleep as late as possible, especially Sero. How someone could be so lazy at one thing and so hard-working at another was beyond him. Their obsession with stardom, made worse when Kimiko Ojiro was also involved, likewise made no sense to him. They were going to be Heroes. Whether or not they gained fame as well was beside the point. If they did a good job, anything else would follow.
As for Takiyo Aoyama, the less said, the better. The glowing blonde claimed he needed his "beauty rest." More obsession with fame and glory, if not in quite the same way as Sero and Sato. And far more arrogance than his grades or Heroics performance warranted. Still, he had seemed marginally more tolerable after Tuesday's Heroics Class.
Daisuke, meanwhile, considered himself well aware of his limits. While he was probably the physically strongest member of Class 1-A, he knew his Quirk was one of the most simple. But simple did not mean lacking use. He could put his Extendo-Arms to good use, whether through their strength or his ability to make them lengthen. Even the simple act of having additional arms with which to hold and carry things was useful, to say nothing of their ability to enhance his mobility.
It was a little past 0600, and the kitchen was empty when he entered it. Midoriya would have probably left just a few minutes ago for his morning run, possibly accompanied by Kirishima-Bakugo, possibly not. He liked the quiet and peace. It reminded him of home. Neither of his parents were much on possessions or distractions, and he too liked to live simply. He kept his room sparsely decorated and when it came to the nonsense many of his classmates could get into, he kept his head down.
Which is not to say he considered himself standoffish. He enjoyed the company of the others, for the most part. But he did not feel compelled to share every detail of his life the way some of them did. He came by it naturally. His parents had started dating early into their second week of their first year at U.A., and save for Shoto Todoroki, none of his father's classmates had even known until they'd received invitations to wedding.
Daisuke poured himself a bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice, and sliced a pair of apples. All at once. His coordination with using his multiple arms was excellent; he didn't even need to see them if the task was simple enough. He stood at the kitchen counter and began to eat, only looking up when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs.
"Good morning, Tokoyami," he said as the door to the stairwell opened.
"How do you do that, Shoji?" Asuka Tokoyami asked.
"I'm a very good listener," he said. Even without his father's extrasensory abilities, he was quite good at paying attention. Easier when you had a life without distractions. "Besides," he added with a small smile, "I heard you and Frog-Shadow arguing is a hard sound to miss."
Tokoyami pinched her beak, below her eyes, where it met the rest of her face. "Of course you did. I swear, she is like a toddler sometimes…"
"Do I want to know what the argument was about?"
She shook her head. "You really don't."
"Then I won't ask anymore follow up questions."
"Thank you, Shoji."
"Of course." He slid one of the plates of sliced apples towards her.
"You're too kind."
"Not at all," Daisuke replied. "You like them and I had extras."
Sometimes, it was as simple as that.
He watched in fascination as Kimiko Ojiro put a hand on the animatronic trapped under the rubble and another on the rubble itself, peeling back layers of both with invisibility. The invisible girl's new trick was certainly impressive, if a bit strange to watch.
"You're okay to lift, Shoji," she said, giving him a thumb's up. "Broken bones, but nothing moving them can make much worse."
"Thank you, Ojiro" he said, even as she ran off to help the next "victim."
With a grunt, Daisuke extended the top set of his Extendo-Arms. It was a strange feeling, his bones, muscles, tendons all growing rapidly, a fusion of his father's Dupli-Arms Quirk and his mother's Extension Quirk. His arms properly extended, he was able to lift the rubble off the trapped animatronic. Then, with equal precision, he extended his lower set of arms to lift the dummy and pull it close to him. Setting the rubble down, he drew in both sets of arms, transferring the dummy to his two main arms and extending both sets of Extendo-Arms again, adopting the spider-walk with which he had become so proficient. Walking like that, he was able to make use of multiple surfaces, digging his strong fingers into them for purchase when need be, and avoided putting too much of his considerable weight on any one spot.
"Have you got that, Shoji?" Sora Iida asked, jetting back from the Triage Zone after having dropped off an animatronic of her own.
"Fine, Iida!" he called out. "Keep going!"
Having worked in small groups the last three days, now all sixteen of them were working together in a massive cityscape, while All Might, Water Spout, and Doc Clock watched, occasionally offering instruction or correction. But it was clear they were putting what they had learned to good use. Over the course of the three previous days, one or the other of their teachers had met with each of them, offering suggestions and advice on how to improve or new ways to use their Quirks, such as Ojiro's new invisibility trick.
When it had come to his turn... they hadn't had much. His Quirk was incredibly straightforward and while he perhaps needed to work on acting more decisively, cautious action would also serve him well in Rescue Work. There was always more to learn, of course, but he wasn't sure whether to be pleased or disappointed that they hadn't had more to offer him.
As he headed to the Triage Zone, Daisuke could see the others in action.
Izumi Todoroki doused flames with her ice, letting Kenta Sato access a trapped animatronic, freeing it by taking great bites out of the rubble. Sato checked the dummy's vitals before handing it off to Tesei Iida to fly it back to the Triage Zone. Takuma Sero, Mika Mineta, and Akaya Koda worked together, using Sero's tape, Mineta's sticky balls, and Koda's fast grown vines to keep the remaining entrance to a collapsed building from collapsing further. Glowing brightly, Takiyo Aoyama went inside, returning quickly with an animatronic that he passed to Toshi Midoriya, who cleared the distance from there to the Triage Zone in one gravity-jump.
Meanwhile, Shota Shinso unleashed his sonar on another downed structure, shouting directions to Chihirio Kaminari. Her Extension Cords aglow with the crackle of electricity, Kaminari searched inside, before shouting for help. Asuka Tokoyami sent Frog-Shadow in after her, each returning with an animatronic. Mounting Frog-Shadow, Tokoyami took the one, while Kaminari handed hers off to Sora Iida for transport.
Katsumi Kirishima-Bakugo's explosive touch wasn't as useful here as it was in battle, but she exploded a small piece of rubble just precisely enough to snuff out flames, as Doc Clock had suggested to her yesterday. She lifted the trapped animatronic and climbed on a shaking Haimawari's back. Haimawari had mobility and speed, but lacked the ability to transport passengers who could not hang on for themselves, necessitating a rider. Neither was probably happy about it, but it was good to see them put their differences aside.
Most of them, they had known each other all their lives. And certainly, there were various cliques within them, but they understood well the value of teamwork and coming together. Even Haimawari was fitting in like he had been a part of them all along. Together, they could accomplish anything. It took considerable time and effort but, still within the time limit their teachers had given them, they had cleared the city.
They assembled in front of their teachers, quietly waiting for them to speak.
Well, some of them were quiet. Daisuke saw Mineta give Haimawari an elbow in the side. "So," she said to him, "I saw you letting Kirishima-Bakugo ride you. You two exclusive or…?"
Haimawari turned a distressing shade of pale and let out a squeak.
"Don't think I won't blow those horns off your head, Horse Girl!" Kirishima-Bakugo shouted.
"Oh, c'mon," Midoriya said, his voice full of exhaustion. "Can't one of you give it a rest, just for once?"
"She started it!"
"I was just asking an innocent question!"
"Good job, everyone!" Water Spout said, shutting the conversation down and pulling off his helmet so they could see his face. "You all did…"
"YES, EXCELLENT WORK, YOUNG HEROES!" All Might boomed, interrupting him with his voice and clapping that sounded more like great claps of thunder. The man may have been one of the greatest Heroes of all time… but did he have to be so loud? "Young Grandso… All of you! You are all showing the true spirit of heroism! Already, I have seen great improvements over where you were just earlier this week!"
The former Number One Hero went on. "You'll all receive your evaluations next week, after we have had a chance to collectively review your performances and discuss them with Aizawa. And, of course, you still have tomorrow's challenges ahead of you…"
"And, of course," Doc Clock said, "Rescue Work will rarely been this simple of straightforward. Oftentimes, the disaster will be on-going, or worse, occurring during the middle of a Villain attack."
Suddenly, a high-pitched laughter split the air, drowning out all other sounds. "UWE-HE-HE-HE-HE-HE-HE! Did someone say "Villain attack'?"
In an instant, everything went dark, save for a faint glow provided by Aoyama.
There was a high-pitched scream. It sounded like one of the girls, probably Mineta. Though his outward appearance was calm, Daisuke could feel his heart pounding like a jackhammer in his chest, threatening to wear its way out. He was confident of his strength and skills… but if this was a real battle, real Villains…
"SAVE ME, KIRISHIMA-BAKUGO!"
"If you don't let go of me by the count of zero, Horse Girl…!"
Now? Of all times? Mineta truly was insatiable.
"Aoyama! Kaminari!" Toshi's voice cut through the arguing. "We need lights!"
"Oui."
"Got it!"
In a moment, Aoyama had increased his glow, while Kaminari directed electricity into the tips of her Extension Cords. Aoayama's pale blue glow and the crackle of electricity cast everything into deep shadows, but produced enough light for them to see.
Not that there was much to see. The simulated disaster had been turned off, leaving the cityscape bare. And there were no signs of any Villains, if indeed, that's what this was. And worse… there was no sign of any of their teachers.
"Can anybody see anything?" Midoriya asked.
Slowly, cautiously, they moved into something of a defensive position. It wasn't discussed, it wasn't planned, it was simply the long result of having known each other and each other's Quirks for years. They fell into a semi-circular position, with Midoriya, Kirishima-Bakugo, Tokoyami, Ojiro, Sato, and Daisuke on the outside, as they were the more physical fighters. Mid-range fighters like Mineta, Sero, Koda, and Kaminari next; long rangers Todoroki, Shinso, and Aoyama next, and mobility specialists the Iida Twins and Haimawari at the back.
This was unthinkable. There hadn't been an attack on U.A. in well over fifteen years. Security was incredibly tight, the buildings well protected. It was unthinkable that the children of the legendary Class 1-A would be attacked at the USJ just as they had been. And yet what else was there…
Daisuke strained his eyes against the dark corners of the USJ, tried to block out the sounds of the others like Mineta's panicked whimpering, the crackle of Kaminari's electricity, and the soft mechanical sounds that accompanied the Iida Twins. His senses may not have been super-human, but if you knew what to look for…
But he could find nothing. And that was far more worrisome than if they had been surrounded.
"Shota?" Midoriya asked.
"On it," Shinso said. He let out an ultra-high pitched noise for a moment that made Daisuke's ears hurt.
"Someone's up in the rafters," Shinso reported after a moment.
"We should run," Daisuke said. "Get help. We shouldn't be fighting." That was the smartest choice. They could fight if they had to, but even as second or greater generation Heroes… thy were still only Heroes in training.
"We might not have a choice," Midoriya said.
"UWE-HE-HE-HE-HE-HE-HE!" the same laughter from before split the air, and this time, they were able to track it. Aoyama turned a bright, spotlight-like beam on the source. There, sitting on one of the rafters, legs dangling in the open air, was a tall man in what looked like Victorian evening wear, his face hidden by a theatrical mask, the features molded on it in the form of a laughing face, and a wide-brimmed hat.
"All you little would-be Heroes," the figure said. "But you know nothing of the trials you shall face! At least… not until the Laughing Man and his friend arrived to show you your fate!"
"Friends…?" Mineta asked. "You mean there's more of them?! We're all gonna die!"
And then all hell broke loose. The first was that the Laughing Man pushed himself off from his seat in the rafters and started falling towards them. The Iida Twins and Midoriya, using their Quirks, launched up to meet him and about halfway there suddenly slammed into an invisible wall that seemingly appeared when the Laughing Man threw out a hand. Midoriya was knocked senseless, but the Iida Twins recovered and Sora Iida caught him before he could fall.
The way the Laughing Man was falling was… strange. As though he was falling far too slowly, like the air itself was slowing him down. An air manipulation Quirk, maybe? Daisuke tensed, readying for a fight, when he felt the air pressure behind them change…
He spun, just in time to see a female figure, dressed all in black, pop up out of the ground, disturbing the dirt and concrete not at all, but passing through it as though it wasn't there. "Haimawari!" he called out, but it was too late. The figure spun and drove a kick into Haimawari's chest, knocking him to the ground.
Daisuke extended both of his top arms as fast as he could, aiming for the woman. But she stood her ground and when his fists slammed into her, it felt like he was hitting a brick wall. "Argh!" he cried out, reeling his arms back in. "What are you made of?!"
"You'll find out soon enough!" she laughed, vanishing into the ground again, sinking into it like a stone.
Daisuke looked around, trying to determine where she might appear again. Some of the others were having no luck against the Laughing Man either. He'd done… something, turned the ground beneath their feet into liquid and then back into a solid, trapping Sato and Ojiro out of arm's reach. Izumi's ice hit home, trapping his feet for a moment, but he passed a hand over the ice block she had created, and it turned right back to water, splashing harmlessly on the ground.
He tipped his hat to her. "Well played, my dear, but not well played enough." Mineta's sticky balls filled the air, flying at him, but he held up a hand and they were stopped by another invisible wall. Sero fired off his tape to ensnare him, but instead the Laughing Man grabbed the strand and it turned into a goo, sticky, but not solid enough to trap him.
And then the woman was back, popping up out of the ground. She quickly grabbed Mineta and gave her a judo toss, throwing her into Koda and Kaminari. Kaminari's Cords went wild, shocking both of them.
Daisuke shot out his lower arms, trying to ensnare her again and this time he made contact, wrapping his arms around her waist and pinning her arms. "Got you," he said, letting himself feel just a little bit pleased.
It was premature. Using the same trick she'd used to vanish into the ground, she passed through his arms as though they weren't even there.
Kirishima-Bakugo tried to land a blow on the Laughing Man, but he kept just out of his reach, dodging her blows easily. She must have been trying to grab his clothing so she could unleash her explosive power on it, but he wasn't letting her. "Not bad, my dear," he said, "but not good enough." He pointed and something invisible but solid slammed into her, knocking her over.
The woman was still fighting too, blows passing through her harmlessly, even Aoyama's lasers and Todoroki's flames. She'd get close enough to strike, hit like a truck, then back away again. Her strikes were far harder than they should have been. She was moving too quickly for him to get a bead on her without getting closer.
The Iida twins dive bombed the Laughing Man and though he avoided their attack, what he couldn't avoid was Tokoyami and Frog Shadow. He saw Frog-Shadow coming and tried to throw up another of those invisible walls, but Frog-Shadow was only as solid as she wanted to be, being made of light, and she passed through the invisible wall, slamming into the Laughing Man and pinning him to the ground.
Just the woman then. Daisuke got ready to try his Extendo-Arms again when a high-pitched shriek made her fall to her knees, clutching her head. It was Shinso and whatever sound he was making was affecting her sense of balance something terrible. His too, the longer he listened to it.
Just what was that boy capable of?
Fortunately, Shinso could only hold the sound for a few moments. Slowly, those who had been knocked down were getting to their feet. Midoriya was conscious again, leaning heavily against Sora Iida for support. "Did we… did we get them?" Midoriya asked.
"We did," Daisuke told him. "Or rather Tokoyami and Shinso did. Most of us didn't do so well."
"Who the hell are these freaks?" Kirishima-Bakugo asked.
"Friends," a voice said. Daisuke and the others turned and saw the ground of the Triage Zone opening and a platform rising up with Water Spout, Doc Clock, and All Might standing on it. "We got a few friends to agree to this little surprise to help test you," Water Spout went on. "The Laughing Man, of course, introduced himself already. If you'd let him up, Tokoyami?"
"Of course," Tokokyami said, recalling Frog Shadow.
The Laughing Man got to his feet. "Most impressive," he said, taking a deep bow. With one hand, he removed his mask. He was a young man, maybe twenty-one or twenty-two at most, with reddish hair and a thin red mustache. "Noritaka Tobita, at your service."
"Tobita…?" Midoriya said. He snapped his fingers. "Like Gentle Criminal!"
"Or Gentle Guardian!" Shinso added. "After he reformed, he became the first person to flunk a Hero School entrance exam but pass a special examination for a Hero License!"
"Correct," Tobita said. "My parents are the Gentle Guardian and La Brava. Though even with my flair for the performance, I do tend to shy a bit further away from the public eye. So you can be forgiven for not having heard of me. But your teachers thought my Quirk to change the state of matter, combined with my own skills and my partner's Quirk to alter her density, would prove a challenge for you. It would seem they were correct. "
"Ugh…" the woman who had been with him got to her feet. "That was so cool! You guys did so awesome!" She peeled back her mask to reveal a pretty face and blonde hair.
"Nejire?" Midoriya gasped.
Daisuke recognized her now. The Togata girl, the middle child of Mirio Togata and Melissa Shield. If they hadn't been taken so by surprise, he might have recognized her Quirk earlier. Midoriya no doubt would have if he hadn't been one of the first ones knocked down. She was a couple years older than them, but the Togata family was good with friends with all of their parents.
"That's me!" Nejire Togata said. "Can't believe you guys didn't' figure it out!"
Tobita laughed. "The Blonde Phantom here is my intern. Quite the good one too."
"Still need to figure out a costume, though," Togata said. "All black does not work for me."
"What the hell was the point of all that?" Kirishima-Bakugo demanded. "You get your kicks dropping them on us out of the blue and having them wail on us? Here? After what happened to our parents?"
She actually sounded a bit shaken. He wouldn't have thought her capable of the emotion, but he heard the slightest tremor in her voice. Truth be told, Daisuke wasn't sure he saw much value in such a surprise attack either, though he might have phrased it better.
"Eri told you guys," Water Spout said, "Villain attacks can spring up out of the blue, even during rescues. You've got to be ready for anything."
"You're lucky," Doc Clock said. "I actually gave you a little warning. Dad wouldn't even have done that. We know you all have a familial connection… but it's still our job to push you just as hard as we can."
"While I am not fond of the deception," All Might added, "the challenge was necessary. Villains rarely announce themselves and you must be ready for action at a moment's notice, regardless of whatever raging cauldron of emotions swirls within you."
"Sixteen against two," Daisuke said. "And we really didn't do all that well. We got lucky."
"Sixteen first year students against a Pro and a third year," Water Spout corrected him. "You'll get better. That's why we're here."
Then he would just have to be better.
Daisuke tended to go to bed early, but he was more than a little wired. They all were, really, if the sounds from most of the rooms were any indication. Doc Clock had patched them up before sending them back to the dorms, her Quirk rewinding them all back to before they'd gotten into the fight with Togata and the Laughing Man. Suddenly not being beaten up had a way of refreshing you.
He found himself back in the kitchen and was surprised to find Tokyami there. "Couldn't sleep either?" he asked.
She shook her head. "Still too wired after today. I knew… I knew things couldn't possibly have been repeating themselves, not like what happened to our parents, but it felt so intense…"
He pulled her into a hug. He'd be the first to admit he was not especially demonstrative, but he knew what was needed her. "I know," he said. "I was scared too. But it was just another test. Something we're probably going to have to get used to, whether we like it or not."
He let go after a moment. "You're right," Tokoyami said. "Thank you."
She glanced at the kettle on the stove. "Perhaps some tea?"
Daisuke nodded. "I'd like that, thank you."
As she moved to start the tea, Frog-Shadow appeared in a flash of light. "Wowwweee! Did you feel how muscular he is?! You should hug him again!"
Tokoyami tried to swat Frog-Shadow, but the familiar dodged out of the way. "Bad enough you keep bragging about how you saved the day! Now this?"
In spite of himself, or perhaps simply as a final release of all the day's tension, Daisuke found himself laughing at his poor friend's plight.
"Oh, not you too, Shoji," Tokoyami wailed.
"I… I am sorry," he said, quickly.
She gave a little chirping laugh of her own. "I suppose we deserve it sometimes. But really, you should laugh more often. I'd forgotten how pleasant it is."
"I'll do my best."
And life went on, it was as simple as that.