Shortly after we finished dinner (I tried to keep from laughing maniacally whenever someone complained about their food), Mister Aizawa reappeared from inside the building. I had just stacked my dirty dishes in the center of the table when I noticed him. His expression was… oddly pleased, which I knew meant nothing good.
"Extra lessons group! Over here as soon as you're finished cleaning up!" he barked, gaze catching mine. I slumped, realizing that I couldn't pretend I hadn't heard. Having already stacked my dishes up, I drug my feet over to his side, head hung. I may have managed to clear away whatever exhaustion I'd felt from the earlier training, but I wasn't immune to lack of sleep. Not unless I had more coffee.
I managed to slow myself down enough that Bakugo beat me over. He tossed me an angry glare as I approached. "The fuck are you looking so pathetic for, Ichimi?" he demanded.
I narrowed my eyes at him, resisting the urge to shout something rude back. Instead, I crossed my arms and looked at him expectantly. "I wasn't aware you cared, Bakago," I responded sarcastically, trying to hide how his comment hurt. I was still actively trying to suppress my memory of the final exams.
Bakugo bared his teeth at me. "I don't," he growled. "I just wondered why you were slouching, since you're already so fucking short."
I clenched my fists, officially infuriated. Why did he have to mention my height?! I opened my mouth to say something back, but Mister Aizawa cut me off by laying a hand on my shoulder. I glanced up at him sheepishly, embarrassed by my own childishness.
Mister Aizawa leveled me with a stern expression, before lifting his head to look over the three boys in front of him. I tossed Monoma a wary glance, wondering why he was here, before Mister Aizawa made a short order. "Follow me," he said curtly, turning on his heel and stalking into the woods. I focused on his back intently, doing my best to ignore Bakugo's angry presence on one side of me, and Shouto's forever chilled air on the other.
Mist Aizawa led us all through the woods, the air eerily quiet. I could hear myself breathing, and in combination with the occasional rustling of leaves and dark sky, I found myself feeling very twitchy and… well, scared. I was paranoid, okay? Getting stuck in the woods with three people I didn't trust and someone who had recently thrown me off a cliff wasn't a good idea.
"Stop," Mister Aizawa said suddenly, and I jumped in surprise, screeching to a halt. Shouto gave me a odd look, and I flushed, staring down at my feet. I hated when I overreacted about nothing. Mister Aizawa turned around, hands in his pockets. "Everyone here failed the final exam for a very specific reason," he began. "Do you know why?"
There was a long moment of silence, and then Shouto answered. "Teamwork," he said.
"Or rather a lack of it," Mister Aizawa agreed wryly, and I bit my lip nervously. He was looking happy again, which meant whatever he was planning was about to happen. "What are the key elements of teamwork?" Mister Aizawa asked.
I raised my hand slightly out of habit, muttering, "Trust. Understanding." I was reluctant to answer, because I doubted I would like whatever was coming next.
Mister Aizawa nodded. "Good. Anyone else?" he looked to the boys, who were remaining stubbornly silent.
"Leadership is important," Monoma added helpfully, aiming a victorious sneer at me. I stared at him blankly, wondering what his problem was. What had Class A done to him anyways?
Mister Aizawa nodded, looking to Shouto and Bakugo next. Bakugo huffed and looked away, and Shouto refused to make eye contact, staring at an arbitrary point over Mister Aizawa's head. Seeing he wasn't going to get a response, Mister Aizawa shook his head. "You missed two of the key elements," he said. "Teamwork requires trust, understanding, leadership, communication and cooperation. You all lack all five," Mister Aizawa grinned, flashing his teeth. His eyes glinted evilly, and I shuddered. "Therefore, as your teacher it's my job to hammer it in. Since teamwork is a vital part of heroism."
It struck me as odd that he added it being important as an afterthought.
"Now then, for your first trial, you'll be using a pretty basic exercise. I assume you all have heard of trust falls?" Mister Aizawa asked, and after a moment's hesitation, I nodded along with the others. "What we're doing is similar," he began, pointing off to his left, and my eyes widened when I saw a cliff. Mister Aizawa's Cheshire cat grin widened. "Scaled up for future heroes, of course."
I stared at the cliffside in horror, and my mouth fell open. "You want us… to jump off a cliff?" I repeated in terror. How the heck was this a trust fall?! This was more like an exercise in luck!
"If you try to rescue yourself or activate your quirk, you fail, by the way," Mister Aizawa added as an extra note. "You have to trust your classmates at the bottom to work together and catch you."
Bakugo glared at Mister Aizawa. "I don't think Ichimi is going to be catching anyone anytime soon," he argued, and I puffed up at the offense. "She's a fucking midget, any of us could crush her."
I growled. "Actually, I passed the rescue requirements for the Hero Course. I'm stronger than I look, Bakago," I sneered, before looking to Mister Aizawa imploringly. "But, my quirk activates whenever I get an adrenaline rush, so I'm bound to react to this! That's an unfair expectation!" I said, attempting to reason with my sadistic teacher.
That was a mistake.
"You're right, it's unfair to you, Kurosaki," Mister Aizawa agreed. "New rule, if any of you break the rules, you all fail together," I froze, feeling the boys' glares digging into my back. Whoops. "And the punishment for failing is cooking and clean up for all the meals tomorrow. Which means waking up early and staying up late." I withered pathetically, as the glares aimed at me grew more heated. How was I supposed to trust these people to catch me when they were giving me death stares? "Now then, Bakugo, Monoma, Kurosaki, bottom of the cliff. Todoroki, you jump first," Mister Aizawa ordered unsympathetically.
Reluctantly, I walked over to the edge of the cliff. It was a smaller drop than I thought it would be, thank goodness, only around twenty feet. Seeing no path down the sheer drop, I looked back at Mister Aizawa. He looked back at me expectantly.
With a sigh, I turned around and jumped off. There was a few thrilling seconds of falling, and then I tucked myself inwards, landing in a roll. Spinning head over heels to my feet, I turned around and looked up to see if Monoma or Bakugo were coming. Instead, I saw Mister Aizawa's head leaning over the edge.
"That was more dramatic than necessary," he remarked, and I glared up at him in retaliation. He smiled, and then looked to Bakugo and Monoma, beyond my line of vision. "Get going," he ordered impatiently.
My eyes widened when I saw Bakugo come dropping down, right towards me. His teeth were bared in a vicious grin as he flung himself forward, and I knew instantly that his trajectory was very intentional. I hopped backwards quickly, and a second later Bakugo's feet landed where I'd been standing. He didn't even flinch at the landing, and I wondered just how much his quirk had affected his bone density if he could handle that landing so easily. Clearly, he had no reason to be scared of jumping. He'd be just fine with hitting the ground like a rock.
"Bully," I bit out, offended that he'd tried to drop down on me.
Bakugo's grin turned a little more manic. "Of course," he agreed, entirely unapologetic. I glared at him, until my attention was stolen by the sound of explosions. I looked up again, this time to see Monoma propelling himself to the earth gently with explosions… Bakugo's quirk. Before Monoma could even land, Bakugo was shouting. "DON'T COPY MY FUCKING QUIRK, YOU EXTRA!"
"Bakugo, keep talking," Mister Aizawa encouraged dryly. "I'd love a reason to make you wash dishes tomorrow." The blonde's mouth clicked shut immediately, but I could see his eyes burning with frustration. I smirked, opening my mouth to make a comment, only for Mister Aizawa to speak again. "Kurosaki, if you make any attempts to antagonize Bakugo I'll penalize you as well." My mouth snapped close, and this time Bakugo was giving me a smug look. "Now, if you're all done acting like children..." Mister Aizawa continued ominously, "here comes Todoroki."
My eyes widened, and I looked up to see a very startled Shouto tumble off the cliff's edge, clearly having been shoved. I clenched my jaw, cursing Mister Aizawa for his need to surprise people. Looking side to side, I could see that Monoma had frozen up, and Bakugo was looking very unmotivated to catch anyone. Shouto was turning midair, shoulders tense and fists tight as he tried to keep from saving himself, knowing that would mean failure.
Biting back a curse, I ran forwards, racing past Bakugo and building up enough momentum to run straight up the cliff. I focused my eyes on Shouto's back, feeling myself start to slow down. I couldn't stop yet though, so I pushed myself a few more steps and flipped backwards. I grabbed the front of Shouto's shirt as I fell, turning through the air and letting go, throwing Shouto towards Bakugo and Monoma with all my body weight. I watched Shouto's body soar sideways and slam into Bakugo and Monoma, who didn't move fast enough to properly catch him, sending all three to the ground.
I landed half a second later. Staring at the pile of boys, I lifted my head towards the sky. "Does it count as catching if they pad his landing?!" I yelled up at Mister Aizawa hopefully, because that had been the worst catch I'd ever seen.
"Yeah," Mister Aizawa confirmed, sounding very amused. "Now, Bakugo, get up here, it's your turn." Bakugo, at the bottom of the pile up, lifted his arm, middle-finger raised proudly. I coughed into my hand, amused and not surprised in the slightest.
The three boys all managed to untangle themselves after a minute, looking ruffled and dirty. I tried to hide my giggles when I noticed the dirt covering Bakugo's back, but based on the dirty look he tossed me, I wasn't very successful. As Bakugo propelled himself up the cliff with explosions, I turned to the two other boys.
"So… I think we need a better tactic than improvising," I suggested dryly, surveying Monoma try and straighten himself up vainly, while Shouto's hair was looking slightly pink in the middle and he appeared grumpy.
Monoma glared at me. "You Class A kids are just too stupid to think things through," he spat, trying to knock the soil off his pants. "Did you think it was funny, knocking me down?" he demanded.
I blinked in surprise at his passionate hostility. "Uh… no?" I answered, a bit put off. I was trying to be friendly, what was his problem?! "You and Bakugo didn't act, so I did. I thought you'd both react in time to catch Shouto. Shows what I know." The last bit came out more sarcastic than I'd intended.
"The plan?" Shouto cut in expectantly, reminding me about the subject at hand. I shook my head, realizing I'd gotten off topic.
"Right, the plan," I said, looking up towards the cliff just in case Bakugo got shoved off suddenly as well. I fidgeted uncomfortably, not wanting to give out my own ideas first. "Uh, do either of you have a suggestion?" I asked, trying to redirect the focus of the conversation to someone else.
Monoma scoffed. "That's easy," he said cockily. "Todoroki and I can catch him, like we all were taught in Hero Fundamentals, and you can direct Bakugo's fall like before." His tone was mocking, he was far too smug… but his plan ran in line with what I was thinking. I nodded reluctantly.
Shouto simply shrugged. "Sounds good," he agreed easily, strolling towards the cliff with his hands in his pockets. I followed after him a moment later, preparing myself for yet another acrobatic stunt.
"Ohhoho! Does the overconfident Class A finally surrender to the far superior Class B?!" Monoma laughed creepily, arms spread. I stared at him in confusion. A chill ran up my spine at the odd light in his eyes, and I decided it would be better not to respond.
It wasn't a moment too soon, because a familiar voice called out, "Heads up!" just as I turned around. With that short notice, Bakugo came plummeting over the cliff backwards. I didn't doubt that he'd been shoved as well.
"FUCK!" Bakugo screamed as he fell. I bit back my smile, and darted forwards. I had a feeling this was going to be pretty repetitive.
We had already managed to successfully catch Bakugo, Monoma, and Todoroki. Standing between the boys, panting from all the flipping and running I'd been doing, I tried vainly to ignore the fact that I was next. Jumping off a cliff and hoping the boys would be able to organize themselves in time to catch me did not sound fun. At all.
Internally, I squirmed a bit at the thought. Although I acknowledged that I had severe trust issues, no one could tell me that Bakugo, Monoma, and Shouto made a trustworthy group. I didn't think they'd be able to reliably work together long enough to catch me in the slightest.
"Kurosaki, your turn. Get on up here," Mister Aizawa droned, sounding every bit the bored lecturer he acted like at Yuuei. I knew better though. He was inwardly cackling with sadistic enjoyment, I just knew it.
With a sigh, I shuffled over to the cliff and started climbing up. It was difficult to find handholds, since the cliff face was very smooth, but I managed to slowly make my way up the cliff face. It took me a little over a minute to do so, and when I finally managed to squirm over the top of the cliff, tired and irate.
Mister Aizawa stared back at me blandly. "You took your time," he commented, and then turned around before I could say anything, strolling away from the cliff's edge.
I bit my lip, eyeing him anxiously. "So… this is going to be my second time getting shoved off a cliff in two days, huh?" I started, chatting to cover up my nervousness. "And by the same person. That has to be a record."
"Have you gotten a better handle on your quirk?" Mister Aizawa asked, still not turning around. I twitched, not liking that he wouldn't face me.
"A bit," I giggled nervously. "I know I can keep it from activating even after getting nailed in the ribs, anyways."
Mister Aizawa turned his head around. "Oh really? Then you should be fine," he uttered, and my eyes widened. Realizing what was coming, I tried to jump back and raise my arms, but Mister Aizawa was too quick. His foot nailed me in the stomach, and I went arching over the cliff's edge.
My scream was far more high pitched and girly than I would ever willingly admit. Screeching all the way down, I clenched my fists and tried to keep my quirk from activating. Please no, please no, please no, I chanted internally, gathering all my willpower to keep myself from reacting.
The air got knocked out of me the moment I was caught. I twisted out of the set of arms wrapped around my back and legs, landing in the dirt on my knees. I inhaled deeply, hands shaking and mind in a frenzy. I was on the edge of an anxiety attack. Keeping myself still while falling off a cliff had been near impossible, and suppressing my quirk while doing so had been even worse. Facing actual danger without the protection of my quirk wasn't something I'd ever had to do before! I never wanted to experience it ever again.
"Congratulations," Mister Aizawa said dryly, slicing through my panic and catching my full attention. I focused on his voice, trying to make my shaking subside. "Todoroki was the only one who made any attempt to catch Kurosaki," Mister Aizawa continued. "Bakugo, Monoma, any explanations?"
Clenching fistfuls of my pants, I looked up over my shoulder to see Shouto watching me with visible concern. When I turned around, his expression flattened forcibly, and he turned away. I bit my lip and gazed at Bakugo and Monoma instead, who were stubbornly refusing to respond and attempting to make excuses respectively.
"Class A can clearly save themselves," Monoma tried to reason. "What could some poor Class B student do? Besides, Kurosaki is tiny, she only needed one person to catch her." Bakugo huffed and crossed his arms in the background, clearly in agreement.
Mister Aizawa looked unimpressed. "You all fail," he said bluntly. I froze, and then turned towards Monoma and Bakugo, seething. I had just gone through all that effort, all that panic, for nothing?! Because those idiots couldn't pull themselves together for one exercise?!
People were going to die tonight.
"Head back to your quarters, I'll wake you up early for kitchen duty in the morning," Mister Aizawa continued, turning around and vanishing behind the cliff's edge. "Better get some sleep, you'll need it."
I glared up at my sadist of a teacher, before whipping around towards Bakugo and Monoma. I pointed at Bakugo accusingly. "You know, for all the bragging you do, you'd think a little teamwork wouldn't be so difficult! Pull yourself together!" I demanded, and then pointed at Monoma before Bakugo could open his mouth to shout back at me. "And you! I don't know what my class has done to offend you so badly, but you need to get over it! Whatever punishments we face, you face, so you need to fix your attitude quick!" My face was heating up, but this time in anger, and I knew that one of my braids was becoming loose. I probably looked like a mess.
"Fuck off, Ichimi," Bakugo grumbled, but from his refusal to look at me, I could tell he didn't have a good response. He was probably feeling pretty ashamed right now, and I had a feeling that pressing him further wouldn't help matters. Hopefully his problems would be fixed by tomorrow.
Monoma was just staring at me in silence, looking both enraged and embarrassed all at once. His hands were opening and closing, like he wanted to strangle me but didn't know where to start.
I looked at them both, and when no other responses came, I spinned around and flounced off, making sure to raise my voice enough so they could hear my "hmph!" of disdain. It was a passive-aggressive, unnecessary move, and absolutely my cup of tea. Monoma let out a strangled noise in response, and I continued around the cliff, knowing (or hoping at least) that the slope would slough further along to the right.
As soon as I was far enough away however, my facade dropped, and I hung my head miserably. I had dishes, sleep-deprivation, hellish training and a ton of cooking on the agenda for tomorrow. This was going to be absolutely terrible.
Mailbox
RA Here is your "more" :) Thanks!
Moonacre BunBun (^-^)/" Hi! Glad you're enjoying the story! And tell your husband he's being loud and scaring Ichigo.
Prince Momo is the best, one of my favorite characters in the series. I wanted to write some girl-bonding time and give the other characters some spotlight. They probably did kill Mineta - Ichigo is apparently very easy to be protective over, I wonder why? And yeah, Ichigo is very traditional and modest, it's because she was raised by her grandmother. The same for her cooking. I thought it'd be sweet to mention some of the good times Ichigo shared with her grandmother. Mitsuki Asano isn't a bad person, after all, just old and in a bad situation. As for Tiger: BNHA people seem to have much higher durability than us normal people. And saying that Ichigo will probably have to fight with broken ribs one day, its good for her to practice now. He's really just watching out for her :)
xenocanaan Here's "more!" And thanks, hope you enjoyed this chapter as well! I created a mini arc within the story, so the summer camp is going to last a bit longer. Ichigo really does get unlucky a lot. I swear, if this were a game, her "luck" stats would be in the negatives.
GreenDrkness Thank you :) Tiger is a true drill sergeant. And Ichigo is very greedy about food XD That and she doesn't want to have to oversee all the other students while cooking. Better to just hog her cooking to herself...