The trio of students meet minimal resistance on their way back to the middle of the USJ. All of which were quickly dispatched by either Bakugou or Kirishima. There even seemed to have started an unspoken, friendly competition between the two boys on who could dispatch the most minor thugs, a game that Aina was more than happy to watch from behind them both.
It wasn't long after they started following the sounds of loud collisions that they could see a familiar figure surrounded by purple mist in the distance, but there was also another familiar figure that they hadn't expected to see.
"Is that All Might," Aina questioned in disbelief as they saw the hero in the grip of some villain with its brain exposed. All Might was being held over one of the mist villain's portals attempting to pry the villains hands from his side as blood seeped through his shirt. Without hesitation Bakugou began to run towards the fight, "hey wait, we need a plan first!"
"Bakugou doesn't seem like much of the planning type," Kirishima said shaking his head with a trademark pointy, half smile, "you should be able to safely get back to everyone else from here Suzuchan. We'll catch up later okay!" Kirishima gave her a thumbs up before running after Bakugou, also eager to make an entrance to the fight below.
"I already told you Kirishima, I'm not some damsel," Aina released a frustrating sigh as she momentarily evaluated her position. Sure, she could run back to the rest of class 1A, but the villains below were far more powerful than the ones they had encountered so far. Maybe she could offer support of some kind to everyone, All Might was clearly injured, if need be, she could offer some basic first aid. Aina took a deep breath before calming her nerves and running after them both.
Bakugou reached the ongoing fight first, he grabbed the mist villain's metal neck before Midoriya could reach the mist, "out of the way Deku," he shouted as he slammed the misty figure to the ground.
Aina paused just outside of the battle to further gauge her surroundings, surprised she hadn't noticed that Midoriya was also there. Todoroki also made an entrance as a stream of ice rushed towards the villain holding All Might. The Ice climbed up the villains waist and up his arms till All Might was able to successfully free himself from the villains grip. Kirishima may have missed his target, but he was still able to push the villain covered in hands back and held position next to Bakugou.
As the situation settled down Bakugou began to taunt the mist villain, whose armored neck was still contained in his fierce grip, "heh, you got careless you dumb villain. It wasn't hard to figure you out. Only certain parts of your body turn into that smoking warp gate. You used that mist to hide your actual body as a kind of distraction. Thinking that made you safe! That's why we missed. But if you didn't have a body, you wouldn't be wearing this neck armor, right? You're not immune to physical attack if they're well aimed." Bakugou's hand sparked on the villain's neck as a threat, "don't move! You try anything funny, and I'll blow your ass up right now you got it? They'll be cleaning you up for weeks."
"Oh, that doesn't sound very heroic," Kirishima chimed in, most likely trying to remind his fellow classmate to at least try to stay cool.
'That was incredible,' Aina thought as she felt her eyes linger on Bakugou, 'he figured all of that out from one encounter with this guy. He is a natural, still I wish he had shared with us that he had a plan already before running off like that.' She was quickly brought out of her train of thought as the villain with his brain exposed began to shed his icy appendages and regenerate back to normal before charging at Bakugou. Aina didn't even register as All Might pushed the boys out of the way to take the hit from the Nomu. This gave her the opening she needed to rush over to her classmates, "is everyone okay," she asked seeing at least Midoriya looked a little worse for wear.
"Yeah, we're fine," Kirishima responded, "what are you still doing here Suzuchan? You've could've reached the others by now."
"I don't know," she answered him honestly and they all just sort of started at her for a second.
Bakugou scoffed, "idiot, weren't you the one talking about needed a plan?" Aina felt her neck flush with embarrassment and was ready to respond before All Might's cough caught all their attention.
"These are kids, and you didn't hold back?" All Might questioned as he and the villain covered in hands began to monologue back and forth as the lesser thugs around the field began to stir. It was a typical monologue about who gets to decide what's right and wrong. Who draws the line between hero and villains?
"We've got them outnumbered," Todoroki pointed out, taking this chance to strategize.
"And Kaachan found the mist's guy's weakness," Midoriya added on.
"These dudes may act really tough, but we can take 'em down now with All Might's help," Kirishima hardened up ready for battle, "let's do this."
"Don't attack," All Might called out to them, "get out of here."
"You would've been in trouble earlier if it weren't for me remember. You need our help," Todoroki coolly countered.
"I thank you for your assistance, but this is different. It's gonna be alright. Just sit back and watch a pro at work."
"But you're hurt," Midoriya pleaded with him, "you're bleeding and you're almost out of- "All Might cut Midoriya off by flashing the boy a reassuring thumbs up.
'This is it,' Aina thought, 'this is the Plus Ultra thing that everyone here keeps talking about.' She had been wondering why those two words had such power to inspire the other students whenever they heard them. At first, she chalked it up to something she would never understand after growing up so far removed from hero culture. But seeing the worlds so called Symbol of Peace ready to do what needed to be done despite his current pain she was beginning to understand a little more exactly what Plus Ultra truly meant.
Suddenly the hands villain began charging towards the group of students. "Head's up look like we're fighting after all," Kirishima warned as everyone began to brace for impact. Aina grabbed at a few of her vine pods, bursting them to feel the slightly slimy vine sprouts in her palm. Suddenly a shock wave sent them all flying in various directions. Aina fell behind Midoriya and Bakugou and braced herself from all the incoming shockwaves.
"He's gonna fight that brain guy head on?" Midoriya sounded both confused and worried.
"Now for a lesson," All Might called to them as he exchanged blows with the Nomu, it wasn't long till All Might launched the villain into the air and jumped up himself to slam the villain back down creating a crater beneath them, "you may have heard these words before, but I'll teach you what they really mean. Go beyond! Plus Ultra!" With a final punch All Might launched the villain through the side of the USJ dome and off into the distance.
Quickly the students regroup, "that was like the finishing move in a video game. He beat the shock absorption right out of that guy. I've never seen that kind of brute strength," Kirishima said in awe of what he had just seen All Might do. It was far more impressive in person than on a TV screen.
"Imagine having power like that," Bakugou sounded in awe, "he must have been punching that monster so fast he couldn't regenerate."
"I really have gotten weaker," All Might said as the cloud of dust around him began to settle, revealing the clearly exhausted hero, "back in my heyday five hits woulda been enough to knock that guy out. But today it took more than 300 mighty blows."
'What an unnecessary amount of bravado,' Aina thought it was mildly foolish to put on a show for her and her classmates. They clearly already thought he was amazing, why so much effort to look extra tough. 'What energy is he even running on?' She squinted as she noticed a faint steam begin to radiate off All Might and blend with the dust around him.
"You've been bested villains," he turned towards the last two villains left standing, "surrender. We all want to get this over with quickly."
"Man, this is intense," Bakugou said as All Might and the villain continued to monologue back and forth.
"As I expected," Todoroki said, "there is no reason for us to fight now, he'll handle this." Aina should have been happy that it looked like the fight was over, but as she gently rolled the vine sprouts between her fingers, she couldn't ignore the gentle nagging feeling that she had been completely useless.
True school hadn't been in session that long, but the others had all been able to think of something to do to help All Might. After getting herself warped with Kirishima and Bakugou she basically just watched and tagged along with them the entire time. It really put into perspective how far behind she was compared to the heroics students.
"Come on Midoriya," Kirishima called to his classmate as they started to turn towards the stairway leading to the USJ entrance, "we should regroup with the other guys. The last thing we want to do is get taken hostage or get in his way."
While the other continued their retreat Aina paused when she noticed Midoriya wasn't moving to follow them. Suddenly the smaller villains began to slowly pull themselves up from the ground and move towards them. The others got ready to engage the thugs, but Midoriya jumped towards the mist guy, not realizing the hands villain was ready to defend his partner. As the hand reached through the mist towards Midoriya, who had no way to stop now, it was clear the two would collide.
Once again Aina felt the increasingly familiar pain as air shifted in her lungs and the sprouts in her hands reached out to wrap around Midoriya's waist. She couldn't tell you why it happened, she certainly didn't order them to. Regardless the vines grew tight around Midoriya's waist as a shot was fired into the villain's hand. It gave Aina the small window she needed to at least pull back and stop Midoriya from advancing further through the air as she collapsed from the painful weight on her chest.
"Suzuchan, you okay," Kirishima quickly came over and put his hand on her shoulder to make sure she was still awake.
"I'm okay, where is Midoriya," she looked over to him collapsed close to All Might. "Kirishima, can you check on him?" He gave her a skeptical look, clearly not believing her when she said she was okay. "I'm fine. Promise," she weakly smiled to reassure him.
"If you say so Suzuchan," Kirishima shrugged before turning to rush towards Midoriya leaving her there with Bakugou and Todoroki.
Bakugou tsked before offering her a hand, "do you always collapse when using your quirk?"
"Um no," Aina defended herself as she took his hand allowing him to pull her up.
"Yeah right, you've collapsed twice today." He pointed out as the pair found themselves dangerously close to one another.
"Falling out of a warp gate hardly counts as collapsing from quirk use."
"Psh, whatever, you collapsed at the quirk assessment too. No wonder they wouldn't let you in one of the hero courses."
Aina felt her cheeks turn red, "I'm working on it okay!"
A smug smirk crossed Bakugou face as he tilted his head up to sneer down at her. A demeaning shadow fell over his face, "whatever you say Short Stack." Aina felt the red from her cheeks spread down her neck and up to her ears, she had never felt so personally attacked by such a childish taunt before. She looked into Bakugou's red eyes and was surprised by the sparkle there was more mischievous than malicious. She couldn't hold his smug gaze for long and soon she looked down and stepped back to escape his intimidating aura.
"Hey," Kirishima called as he ran back over to them, "Cementoss said for all of us to head to the entrance! You sure you're okay Suzuchan, you look a little flush?"
But Aina never got a chance to respond, "she already said she was fine Shitty Hair, stop asking her." Bakugou scoffed as he turned and began walking back toward the entrance leaving them both surprised by his sudden outburst.
"Geez, what's his problem," Kirishima mumbled under his breath as he and Aina began to also head back up the stairs.
"Probably just tired," Aina shrugged as she tried to calm her burning face. 'I can't let him get the best of me like that,' she thought while silently hoping that their interaction hadn't given him any ideas about tormenting her long term.
It wasn't long till the two joined the rest of class 1A outside of the USJ. "Suzuchan," Mina shouted out while waving her arms to get Aina's attention. Aina waved back to Mina as she began to rush over. The pair collided in a brief hug before Mina held her back at arm's length so she could give her a good once over. "Oh my gosh, you aren't hurt, are you? What were you thinking getting sucked into that crazy portal thing!?"
"I didn't exactly mean to get pulled in Mina," Aina sighed, "and I'm fine. Besides Bakugou and Kirishima did most of the fighting, I was kind of worthless today."
Mina's concerned look was quickly replaced with a suggestive smirk, "Bakugou, huh?"
"And Kirishima," Aina deadpanned back as Mina wiggled her eyebrows, "is now really the best time for this?" Aina rolled her eyes as Mina leaned in while continuing her teasing. "Wow Mina, so happy to see you're safe too what a traumatic thing we've been through today- "Aina droned hoping to discourage Mina's persistence.
"Me thinks the maiden doth protest too much, something happened didn't it."
"Do you even know where that line is from," Aina teased.
"Uh duh," Mina's face suddenly went serious, "Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius." Aina blinked at her friend for a second before Mina began to laugh, "I'm kidding! It's from some Shakespeare thing!"
Aina smiled as they continued to banter back and forth. True they had both just been in extreme danger, but there was something comforting about feeling like everything was gonna be okay. A mood that was quickly crushed when a detective came over to organize the class for a rollcall.
Once he was sure they were all accounted for he began to answer everyone's questions about what was going on. Once it was established that Aizawa and Thirteen were injured but okay the class was dismissed to the bus to return to campus.
"Miss Aina Suzuki," the detective stopped her before she could board the bus with Mina, "if you would come with me Recovery Girl requested your presence." And that was how she found herself bathed in the orange glow of the sunset outside of the nurses office. "If you don't mind waiting for just a second, I'll let Recovery Girl know you're here."
"Oh, um okay," Aina replied to the detective before leaning against the wall of the building as he knocked and entered the nurse's office. She waited for a few minutes, watching as the sun sunk behind the trees in the back courtyard. She had been in a surreal whiplash worth of events that day; it was hard to exist in the calm she was currently surrounded by.
The school was quiet, closed for the day, the class 1A bus most likely had long since come and gone since the detective took time to sidetrack to the station while he took care of some side business. As a result she was here much later than she would normally be out in the halls. She could see the fireflies dance along the tree line below and felt the urge to go chase them, maybe one day she would.
Eventually the nurse's door slid open before her and Recovery Girl shuffled out, quickly closing the door behind her.
The student and teacher pair meet eyes and awkwardly stared at each other for a moment, "well," Recovery Girl broke the silence, "I'm happy to see you're okay, but I heard you were very reckless today."
"Shuzenji sensei I- "Recovery Girl help up a hand to silence her student.
"I hope you're aware of exactly how much danger you placed yourself in with your thoughtless actions. In the future I expect you to take more precautions before jumping headfirst into such dangerous situations."
"Of course sensei, I'll do better next time."
"Let's hope that time doesn't come for a while yet. Now than, you're dismissed, I encourage you to relax as much as possible this weekend. The Sports Festival is coming up soon. I'll have a new itinerary for you starting Monday."
"I'm sorry sensei, but what is the Sports Festival?"
Recovery Girl blinked in surprise before erupting into laughter, "oh sorry dear, sometimes I forget that your family was so removed from Hero Society. Here at UA we host a Sports Festival every year for students to show off their skills and potentially get scouted by hero agencies for internships. All first years will participate on the same field for a chance to show off their talent. It's also a chance for students to possible earn a sport in a hero course if they maybe didn't perform their best during the initial enrollment test."
"There was an enrollment test?"
Recovery Girl was about to laugh again before she forced it down with a cough. There was something sweet about her students naivety about hero customs, it was unlike anything she had encountered in a youth for a long time. "Have a good weekend dear, I'll see you Monday." With that Recovery Girl left Aina standing alone in the hall, clearly dismissed.
With a sigh Aina pulled her phone from her pocket to check it. She noticed a new message from Mina.
Mina: Don't think you've escaped our talk. I know something special happened today; you must tell me everything!
Aina shook her head in disbelief, 'yeah if you call getting taunted by the bad boy of year one something special.' Aina scoffed, ignoring the message, not wanting to encourage her friend any further. Instead she began to type her now daily unanswered message to her mom as she walked back to her dorm for some well-deserved sleep.