The first semester, which was both long and short for everyone, had come to an end, and U.A High School was about to start its summer vacation.
"...Somehow, It feels like a lot of stuff has happened"
"~I know Right?~, ─why is this keep happening─?."
After the closing ceremony, Ritsuka and Shinso went to an ice cream shop that had recently opened.
The air-conditioned on the store was small, but stylish and cute.
A few days into the summer vacation, the summer camp would begin.
I was the one who decided to attend, but that didn't stop a little melancholy from welling up in me.
"Oh, by the way, you were called by Aizawa-sensei, weren't you? What was it about?"
"Ah─..."
When Ritsuka told him that, he thought back to what had just happened.
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After the end of the ceremony, Aizawa called him in to confirm his wish to transfer to the Hero Department and explained the necessary information. Up to that point, it was as Shinso had expected.
What was unexpected was the questions that followed.
"Oh─, you're close with Fujimaru, right?"
"...? Well, yes."
"Well, ..., ... Shinso, how much do you know about that girl?"
"─..,Etto..."
"Ah, wait that question sounds a bit weird, sorry. What I want to know is about fujimaru's quirk. What kind of things did she tell you about her quirk?"
"I don't really talk about that with Fujimaru."
"Although..."
"... After the sports festival, she was kind of amazing, so I asked her what her quirk was.
but she just laughed and said, 'I wonder what it is'."
"...Is that so. What else?"
"after that I asked her what else she could do.
And then──"
She looked down as if she was thinking for a moment, and then looked up with a slightly hesitant expression.
"...probably anything that involves fighting."
She said that
and then her face turns somewhat uneasy.
"did...did something happened with Fujimaru?"
"ah─no... nothing for you to worry about."
He was then told that Ritsuka would be attending a summer camp of the Hero Department during the summer holidays.
If Ritsuka wanted to, she would be transferred to the Hero Department immediately.
"Fujimaru doesn't know much about her quirk either... even if she could grasp it. She wouldn't be able to fully understand it if she stays at the regular course."
Aizawa said this when he saw the complicated expression on Shinso's face.
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"──kun, Shinso-kun, Your ice cream is melting."
"E─eh?... A..a, sorry."
"Why?, you don't need to apologize."
Ritsuka laughed.
"So, what were you talking about?"
"──...I forgot."
"eh, Is that okay?"
"Rather than worrying about others, you should worry about yourself. Are you going to be okay at the summer camp?"
"Gosh, ..., I'll figure it out."
"I'm sure you will."
When the topic of the summer camp came up, Ritsuka's face took on a subtle expression. He was a bit worried about this, but he was sure that Ritsuka was worried in her own way.
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aah, how troubling.
It's not the camp itself. It's something that is inevitable as long as I go to the camp.
It has to do with the students of the hero department.
Are they the same? Are they different?
Will I do well? Will I be able to laugh?
Will I still be good at pretending to laugh?
aah, it's so troublesome. I'm worried.
Finally, the day of the summer camp arrived.
"...Okay, everyone's here.
You guys, come here for a minute before you get on the bus."
I wonder if group A, and B are all together here, gathering in front of Aizawa and group B's homeroom teacher Vlad king:Kan Sekijiro.
"This time's summer camp, there is someone who will participate from the regular course, she is here to observe and participate on various activities from the hero department."
The orange-haired girl they had seen before came out from behind Kan and Aizawa's shadow.
She was clasping her Boston bag over her right shoulder with both hands.
Izuku realized that it was Ritsuka Fujimaru, whom he had known from her performance at the sports festival and also from the hero killing incident.
"That's the girl from the sports festival!"
"Oh, you're joining the heroes department?"
"So cute!"
"Cute..."
"I hope you know what you're doing."
"If not it'll be really bad you know."
The place was in an uproar.
Ritsuka opened her mouth.
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"──From the regular course, I'm Ritsuka Fujimaru.
... I'm looking forward to works with you guys"
(... hmm?)
The way she turned her body towards him, but refused to make eye contact with him, was like a different person from when he first met her.
Izuku thought that she is just a quiet girl from the sports festival, but now she seemed more cheerful than the last time they talked before.
It seemed that everyone except Izuku didn't know how to react to her plain greeting.
Aizawa didn't say anything special either.
"...Well, that's it then.
Basically, you'll be working with group A. If there's anything you don't understand, let me know."
Then there was no other explanation, and everyone just got on the bus.
Class A was originally an even number, so Ritsuka naturally ended up sitting next to Aizawa.
"Fujimaru-san! My name is Ashido Mina!
"I'm Toru Hagakure! Nice to meet you!
Ashido and Hagakure leaned forward from their seats in front of them to talk to Ritsuka.
Ritsuka which looked a little embarassed could only replied with, "Huh..."
"Hey, the bus is moving. Stay in your seats."
Aizawa replied, and the two of them went back and the bus departed immediately after.
Immediately after, the bus became very lively.
"It will stop once in an hour.
After that, it'll be while..."
They were all too excited and no one heard Aizawa's voice.
(Oh, well...)
This is the only time they can have a good time...
Aizawa looks forward.
Ritsuka next to him looked out the window and didn't say anything.
After watching outside for a while, Ritsuka turned to Aizawa as if she noticed his gaze.
Ritsuka looked at him suspiciously.
Aizawa had an amused expression on his face.
"What is it?"
"...Nothing, I just couldn't really tell what you were thinking when you were first talking to me.
Now, it seems like you're a lot easier to understand than I thought."
When Aizawa pointed this out, a little blush stung Ritsuka's cheeks. She glared lightly at Aizawa.
"... Are you trying to tell me to be a little more open?"
Ritsuka gave him an embarrassed, sulky look. She looked like a stubborn child.
"You know what? The purpose of this camp is not to get along. You can do whatever you want.
In fact, it's less likely that you'll be doing the same activities as them during the camp. But if you can do that, it would be so much better."
"It's called being rational.
"Perhaps."
Aizawa then sat down deeply and closed his eyes.
It seems that he has no intention of talking any more.
Ritsuka turned her eyes back to the window.
hot
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Hot, hot, hot.
A heat that I've never experienced in my entire life envelops my body.
Smoke seeped into my eyes, causing them to ache, and I coughed as I struggled to breathe.
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Red, red, red.
All I could see was flames and rubble.
I was in the same place I was a few minutes ago, but now there was nothing to see.
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I don't know why I'm here.
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I don't want to be here.
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I have to get out of here.
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... no.
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I have to find someone.
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I have to save someone.
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Who is it?
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... yes...
The girl who called me.
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The girl who cared for me.
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That's right. That's right.
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I have to find her.
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I have to help her.
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She's got to be here.
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I have to get out of here with that girl quickly──
"Hey, we're here. Wake up."
Aizawa shook her by the shoulders, and Ritsuka woke up with cold sweat.
She had fallen asleep before she knew it.
"Are you okay? Your face doesn't look too good."
Across the aisle, a red-haired boy with bangs on both ends that stood up like horns called out to them.
"Are you drunk?"
Aizawa asked, and Ritsuka shook her head.
"It's okay, I'm fine.
No problem."
"Well, that's good."
When we got off the bus, we were greeted with a view of the observatory, a green field in front of us, and no buildings that looked like accommodation facilities.
"Take a break. ────..."
"I have to pee. I have to pee..."
"What the hell is this place, a parking lot?"
"Hey, what's up, B team?"
"Pee, pee..."
Ritsuka was not the only one who did not understand the situation.
They all looked at each other suspiciously.
Except for Mineta, who seemed to be in a dilemma.
"Because there's little point in doing something for no purpose."
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I turned my eyes to where Eraser was looking.
There it was.
"Gleaming eyes, lock on!
"Stingingly cute and cat like!"
"Wild, Wild Pussycats!
"It's the Pussycats, a groups of professional heroes."
A boy wearing a hat with two horns and two cat-like women were posing.
Wypsies! Midoriya shouted.
"'A four-member team of heroes who founded the union affair office! They're a veteran team specializing in mountain rescue!"
Beside Midoriya's clear explanation, the black-haired hero pointed to the foot of the mountain.
"This area is our property, though.
Your accommodations are at the foot of that mountain."
"It's too far away."
"Then why are you dropping us halfway...?"
"No, no, no..."
"let's go... back... to the bus...Quickly... Wha-?"
The atmosphere became more and more disturbing.
Finally, as everyone started to run towards the bus, He said
"Sorry, everyone, the training camp has already started."
With Aizawa's words, the ground rose up and Midoriya and the others were thrown off the observation deck like an avalanche.
"Whoa!"
Ritsuka's feet were caught in the dirt and her body was about to be swept away.
Just when it is about to happened, a cloth wraps around her body and pull her out.
It was Aizawa's binding cloth.
"You go this way. You're not a hero. So I won't treat you roughly like this."
"You're aware that you're treating me like a dirt...right?"
"Aren't you the one who said you wanted the experience as someone from the regular course?"
The hero who had just created a mudslide and dropped Class A into the forest approached us.
"I'm Pixie Bob. Nice to meet you."
When asked to shake hands, Ritsuka also held out her right hand.
"My name is Ritsuka Fujimaru, and I look forward to working with you for one week."
"..."
"..."
"... Fujimaru-san?"
The other hero, Mandalay, calls out to Ritsuka, who doesn't let go of her hand after shaking it.
"Oh! Sorry my bad!"
"nekonekoneko...it's fine.
Anyways, do you like cats?"
Could it be that nekoneko is a laughing sound? Ritsuka thought.
"Do you like neko... or maybe... cats?"
"What? Isn't that the same?"
"Fujimaru, we're about to leave."
Aizawa called out to her, and Ritsuka, Mandalay and the others headed for the bus.
As she boarded the bus, she said what was on her minds.
"Ano..., Whose child is this?"
"Oh, this is Kota. He's my cousin."
Say hello. Mandalay called out to him, but Kota sat in the back of the bus and did not respond.
"Oh, I'm sorry. He's always like this..."
"No, no it's fine."
The bus departed and the Hero,Aizawa and the others started talking.
After a while, Ritsuka quickly moved next to Kota.
"Hello..."
Kota didn't even look at her.
"I'm Ritsuka Fujimaru. Nice to meet you."
When Ritsuka tried to continue the conversation.
"Who would want to talk to someone who wants to be a hero?"
He replied with a stern look and a bitter tone.
"─Ah,I don't want to be a hero."
"What? That's what you're here for, isn't it?"
"Well...that's what I'm struggling with...I don't want to be a hero."
This is a secret, Ritsuka then started to laughed.
Kota looked more and more suspicious.
"This is going to sound really stupid, but heroes are supposed to help people, right?"
Ritsuka continued in an embarrassed tone.
"I would have preferred to be the one being helped."
"Isn't that ridiculous..., isn't that weird.
I knew that's the case isn't it...people will think I'm weird...right?...That's why you can't tell anyone about this...please keep this a secret..."
Kota's cold reply made Ritsuka droop as if she was quite shocked.
Then why did she tell him? He couldn't bring himself to ask that question. After some hesitation
"Nonsense." Kota decided to ignore her, and Ritsuka, perhaps satisfied, she did not speak to him again.
The bus was about to arrive at its destination.
After arriving at the accomodation facility and having lunch by herself, Ritsuka changed into her jersey and confronted Aizawa.
"What you're going to do now is a physical fitness test. You can use your quirk."
"...I remember, you did this with class A at the opening ceremony didn't you?"
"Since you understood, this will make the process faster. Quickly let's get started."
Aizawa is standing at the goal with a timer.
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Ritsuka opened her mouth to activate her quirk.
"Heroic Spirit Possession (Grand Order) Assassin 'Shuten Douji'"
"Fufu~... It's been a while~, hasn't it, dear~?
To have me possessed you~... what a peculiar girl~"
The one I chose was Shuten Douji, who has A in strength and B in agility.
Despite her whimsical nature, she is a reassuring servant who has lent me her strength as an ally in Chaldea.
"Shuten Douji's power...once again, can you please lend me your strength, just for a little while?"
"Fufuhu~... If it's for you my dear, I'll lend it to you as many times as you want, not just once."
"Thanks, I am counting on you."
At Aizawa's signal, I started running as if I were cutting through the wind. Although possessing a person weakens them to some extent, the power of a heroic spirit lightly surpasses that of a person.
Following the 50-meter run, Ritsuka set high records for grip strength, standing broad jump, repetitive lateral jump, ball throw, upper body raise, and long sit forward bend.
After completing the entire event, I thanked Shuten Douji and deactivated my quirk.
Aizawa approached me as he looked over Ritsuka's record sheet.
"'This is a pretty high overall results...a little over Yaoyorozu, which was number one in Class A. What kind of quirk did you use?"
"I just apply a simple physical enchanchement on my body."
Aizawa's brow wrinkled at Ritsuka's reply.
When Aizawa read the information about Ritsuka, he saw that her quirk was described as "projection"
(You can project any weapon you can imagine.)
But as far as the current fitness test is concerned, Ritsuka is not projecting anything that looks like a weapon, and just like at the sports festival, her athletic ability has taken a huge leap forward.
Aizawa was also concerned about the fact that when she fought Todoroki, she manipulated the flames with a fan in her hand.
Could the flames have been converted into a weapon as well?
Is it possible to strengthen the body?
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(I guess it's not as simple as just asking Fujimaru.)
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I don't think she even knows what she's doing.
Let's not think that Ritsuka's quirk is a "projection".
I'll see it with my own eyes and judge it by myself.
That's what Aizawa decided in his mind.
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"Okay, let's do the next one."
"eh, there's more?"
"Itadakimasu!"
After finally escaping the forest and arriving at the accommodation facility, Izuku and his friends were having dinner.
After hours of walking around in the forest, everyone was delighted with the delicious dinner.
"He~e, it seems like the girl's room is normal size"
"I want to see the big guy's room! Ne~e, Ne~e,Can I go and see it? Later!"
"Oi..., come come!"
"Fish, meat, vegetables... it's a luxury!"
Said Yaoyorozu while looking around
"Is Fujimaru-san not here?
I haven't seen her, since then..."
Did you find her luggage in her room?
Asked ashido tilting her head.
"Ah, didn't Eraser said that since Fujimaru-san is from the regular course, she'll get an earlier break than the heroes? I'm sure she'll be up early again in the morning."
Mandalay replied.
"Eeh, we haven't talked at all!"
"I wonder if she's asleep."
"If she's not, I'll invite her to the big guy's room later."
"Oh─! Yeah, let's go and get her!"
"Oh...yeah...let's go and get her...!"
"when Mineta said the same line, it somehow sounds like a crime."
"You guys don't cause trouble."
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Ritsuka was in an office, talking with Pixie Bob and the others. Ritsuka had already finished her dinner and bath.
Class A was probably just taking a bath.
Ritsuka sighed in admiration as she listened to the heroes talk about how great they were.
"You don't want to be a hero, don't you, Ritsuka? Even though you make a face like that."
"Eh, my face?"
She then quickly flattened her face with her hand.
Pixie Bob just laughed.
"un, the way you look at Class A, it's not like you're disgusted with them, it's like you're kinda awkward with them. I just felt that that's how your attitude towards them was."
"Uuuu... Is it that obvious?"
"hmmm, How do I say it? It's easy to see from a third party, though.
I think that's why Eraser shifted the time. If Ritsuka-chan wanted to, you could have ended your training at the same time as Class A."
Well~ that would just makes it harder wouldn't it?
Said mandalay laughing, and then
"Excuse me! Kota-kun is...!"
And then, dressed only in a towel wrapped around his waist, Izuku came in carrying the unconscious Kota.
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Ritsuka was wetting a towel with water since Mandalay asked her to do it.
In the background, Izuku and Mandalay were talking.
"I guess he just fainted from fear of falling.
Thank you.
Eraser told me that there was one sexual predator in the house, so I asked him to keep an eye on them...
Girls these days are so well-developed."
Ritsuka still couldn't remember half of the faces in Class A, but she had a feeling that she would be able to tell at once who sexual predator was.
But how could she call a student a sexual predator?
"Anyway, I'm glad he's okay...
He must have been very tired."
Mandalay thanked him. Then Izuku opened his mouth a little hesitantly.
"Kota-kun is... very negative to hero."
(Did they talk somewhere before?)
Mandalay paused for a moment and then spoke about what happened to Kota. Ritsuka listened softly.
What she heard was...
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Kota's parents were heroes.
To have died in the line of duty defending citizens from villains.
And the world kept praising them for it.
It was a terrible thing for a young child to go through, and it was no wonder that he hated heroes so much.
Izuku looked down, as if he had lost his mind.
"Anyway, why don't you go put on some clothes?
There are girls here..."
"What? A girl? ...Whoa!
Fujimaru-san?"
"Mandalay, I have change the towel."
"Thank you."
Izuku's face turned red with dismay, but Ritsuka passed it off.
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Yeah you've got more muscle than I thought, but not as much as Spartacus.
I've seen a lot of naked men in my previous life. The innocence that made me blush has long since vanished.
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This may cause a grand misunderstanding, but
Of course, she's talking about the Servants of Chaldea.
Translator Note
This is a really long chapter. Translating this chapter in one sitting definitely has destroyed my back. I need to lie down for a full day after this.