Chapter 24: Winding Down & Preparing for Finals
"Dude, you actually fought the Hero Killer and won?!"
Izumi, Shoko, Ochako, Tenya, Melissa, and Akatani had returned to school after their internships had ended. Needless to say, they were the talk of their class when they arrived.
"So Stain killed heroes because he blamed them for the loss of his friend..." Denki said. "Man, I'd sympathize with him but all those people he killed...and how he almost crippled Iida's brother."
"Look, Kaminari, it's over. He's behind bars now." Tenya reassured as he sat down in his seat quietly. The rest of the class followed suit as Aizawa and Vlad King came through the door to begin class.
"Even though Iida-Kun managed to gain closure against the Hero Killer, he still is shaken from the experience..." Izumi thought, seeing how Tenya now carried himself as if a burden had been lifted from his shoulders but in the process was lost on what to do next.
"All right, today we'll be doing a training race! There will be teams of four and you will all race to the middle of Ground Gamma to meet up with me, who will be playing the role of the civilian in distress." All-Might declared as Heroics 101 came around.
Eri, Mahoro, and Katsuma were also in attendance, wanting to see their 'big siblings' in action since they didn't get to see much because of internships and all that.
"Alright, time to show off my latest babies!" Mei said with pride as she demonstrated magenta boots with rocket propulsors that looked like the greaves of Iron Man from the MCU. "I made these under the tutelage of Power Loader during internships. I'm planning on making a full armor set!"
"Someone's a fan of Iron Man..." Denki said to Tsuburaba, who chuckled and nodded in agreement.
The first race was between Izumi, Sero, Pony, and Setsuna. Sero swung with his tape ala Spider-Man while Izumi flew with jets of wind from her feet, Inasa cheering her on as he saw this. Setsuna detached herself into several pieces and sent them sailing ahead while Pony rode on two of her horns that she shot out with her Quirk.
Sero managed to surprise everyone by being the one to take first place, Izumi being a close second. Even Sero himself was shocked by the fact he beat one of the superstars of the class.
"Izumi-Nee is so cool!" Eri said, her apple red eyes sparkling.
"Yeah! I wanna be just like her when I grow up!" Katsuma voiced in agreement.
"You two are dorks..." Mahoro giggled playfully.
After Heroics 101 had ended, All-Might had a meeting with Izumi, Ochako, Melissa, Akatani, Katsumi, and Momo.
"I heard about the incident in Hosu. I'm proud you girls are alright."
"Man, wish I could have been there." Katsumi huffed in disappointment. "I would have blasted that creep's ugly-ass face to next week."
"Well, we were in different districts so it only stands to reason we couldn't get there," Momo said, polishing off a large bento. The girl had become much larger, rounder, and plumper under her internship with Fat Gum, which helped immensely with her Quirk. Despite this, she still was quite gorgeous all the same.
"Hehehehe, at least I'm not the fattest anymore, Yaomomo." Ochako teased as she poked Momo's tummy, making her hiccup and cover her mouth in embarrassment. Toshinori sighed as he made to get the conversation back on track.
"The Nomu from Hosu have all been taken into custody. One is dead and the other two are incapacitated. Studies showed they indeed have multiple Quirks..."
"So the old man is still alive..." Akatani growled, clenching his fist as Toshinori put a hand on his adoptive son's shoulder.
"Akatani, my boy, we won't let him cause any more damage. We just need to find the evidence to where he's hiding and we'll put him away for good."
"So that All for One creep is still alive, huh?" Katsumi said as Melissa bit her lip in concern.
"What do we do?" Ochako asked. "Considering the League of Villains used Aoyama-Kun as an information broker to give them assistance in the USJ, maybe All for One might make a move on him to keep him quiet."
"Doubtful," Akatani said, shaking his head. "That old bastard only considered Aoyama as cannon fodder, a disposable lighter, if you will."
"Terrible, simply terrible," Momo said, having finished her bento and was wiping her mouth with a napkin, taking a moment to give a petite belch into it before resuming speaking. "We need to do something."
"You're all still just students," Toshinori said firmly. "Let the Pros handle things from here. You've already dealt with enough during Internships. Let us deal with the heavy lifting."
"Still...it...just doesn't feel right. I feel like there has to be something we can do." Izumi said sadly.
"Your hearts are out there and sometimes, that's all anyone can do, my girl..."
It was the end of class for the day and Aizawa and Vlad King had an announcement to make.
"Listen up, you brats, it's almost time for summer vacation. But don't get too excited, you won't be relaxing for the next few months." Aizawa said as Vlad King nodded.
"Indeed. As a special treat for you all, we have prepared a rigorous Summer Camp outing so that you can train your Quirks and learn some foundations in Heroics."
The class cheered in excitement. The most noticeable ones were Mina, Denki, Pony, Himiko, Tsuburaba, and Mei.
"Outdoor Survival Inventing! I love it!" Mei gushed.
"Fireworks! S'mores! Spooky stories!" Himiko, Denki, Mina, and Pony all chanted, clapping their hands in rhythm.
"Maybe skinny dipping!" Tsuburaba added, earning a loud 'YEAH' from Minoru in response.
"This will be a new condition to be sure..." Momo said, putting a finger to her chubby cheek.
"No matter the environment, we must always remain vigilant. An excellent challenge." Fumikage noted, Togaru nodding sagely in agreement.
"However!" Vlad King said loudly, stopping the students in their tracks as they sat back down. "We have a condition for you...those who do not pass the Final Exams will need to take remedial courses while at Summer Camp! Now, we know you don't want the extra work put on you so you must study and train hard for the challenges to come!"
"Oh boy..." Most of the class thought.
"I BARELY TOOK ANY NOTES THIS SEMESTER!" Denki and Mina exclaimed, Denki in terror and Mina in faux cheer.
"With all the shit that's been piled on us, it's a wonder some of us have studied at all." Awase pointed out.
"Awase, language! There are innocent virgin children's ears present!" Ibara scolded as Eri, Mahoro, and Katsuma were indeed in the class with them.
"I've had private tutoring with Papa." Himiko giggled, leaning back on top of her desk. "So, I"m leagues ahead of y'all."
"Same here," Hitoshi added, a trollish smirk on his face.
"And I keep up with my studies on top of working on my babies!" Mei said proudly. "I only got one hour of sleep to get it all done!"
"Hatsume, that isn't healthy!" Melissa voiced in worry.
"Mr. Nedzu has been helping tutor us," Eri said. "Said that we still need to keep our education going."
"Good job, Eri-Chan," Ochako said, patting the little unicorn girl on the head as she blushed in response.
"Still, we have plenty of time to study." Jurota pointed out. "It is not over for all of us to simply throw in the towel and cower in peril, everybody."
"I got an idea!" Inasa shouted loudly, raising his hand up. "Let's all form a study group! Since we trust each other well enough, we can work together and improve our weaknesses while also trading our strengths!"
"A marvelous idea!" Momo said, standing up as her chunky frame wobbled slightly. "I'm willing to host at my estate!"
"Excellent indeed!" Tenya voiced his approval. "I shall also help anyone who needs it!"
"Indubitably." Jurota nodded, fixing his glasses. "I may wish to be more of a wild hero like Hound Dog and Shishido but I appreciate the fine arts of working hard and assisting your peers."
Everyone was now in the cafeteria having lunch. Everyone was discussing what the Practical part of the Final Exam would be.
"You know, I think it might be robots but I could be wrong," Itsuka said as she fiddled with her Beef Bowl.
Izumi noticed that Tenya was picking at his food absent-mindidly. No doubt he still had some lingering thoughts from the incident with Stain back in Hosu. She was about to speak up before something hit her head.
"Ah!"
"Oh sorry, you're big head was in the way…"
"Oh god..." Tetsutetsu groaned as everyone looked to see it was Monoma. Ibara instinctively pulled Eri, Mahoro, and Katsuma closer to her along with Kyouka and Mina, not wanting the young ones to listen to whatever drivel the former 1-B student had to spew.
"What do you want, Monoma?" Hitoshi said, narrowing his eyes. "Are you still butthurt over me taking over your spot because what I said to you at the Sports Festival was maybe sorta true?"
"I heard from the grapevine that a few of you fought the Hero Killer." Monoma sneered. "Just like in the USJ and the Sports Festival, you guys aren't happy unless you have all the spotlight. You do know that if you keep this up then other classes will get in trouble because of you guys?"
"Monoma, I swear to God, I hoped you being moved to General Ed would make you learn humility but I guess I was wrong!" Itsuka snarled as she got up, only for Tenya to beat her to the punch.
"Listen here you little troll, if you strike one of my classmates once again then there will be consequences!" all eyes were on Iida right now. Everyone in his class had their mouth agape listening at the normally mature teen utterly lose his cool. The rational voice in the back of his mind was screaming at him to stop this madness at once but for some reason, he just kept talking.
"Do you honestly think that we enjoyed almost getting killed when the League of Villains attacked us in the USJ? Is your mind so clouded with jealousy that you interpreted our joy at being alive once we came back from that hell as being happy that we were noticed by the media? We witnessed Akatani being forced to cut off one of our attacker's arms because he had no qualms about killing us! We had to stare into the eyes of a nightmarish abomination who could feel no pain! Thinking about how good we were going to look on the news wasn't at the top of our list of priorities!"
"Whoa, Iida, take it easy..." Akatani said. Even though he had warped Tenya to warn everyone at UA about what was happening at the USJ but he could tell the Iida scion was still upset about not staying and helping his friends at that time.
"I don't know what sort of inferiority complex you harbor against us but it must stop at once. I recognize that Bakugou isn't the most cordial of students but aiming your vitriol at anyone else in this class won't accomplish anything." Tenya stood silent for a moment before deciding to lay into the smug idiot that was Monoma Neito.
"And you want to know something else, Monoma Neito? Despite all your bluster about being superior, the harsh reality is that you cannot do anything until you could take a Quirk from someone who is stronger than you. How pitiful…"
"OH SNAP!" Togaru cackled. "LAY IT ON HIM, IIDA!"
Monoma was in a catatonic state upon hearing Tenya's words. It was there Katsumi decided to take the opportunity to twist the knife further.
"How's it feel being a loser, ya copycat fucker?!"
Monoma had dropped his tray now, the wine glass full of juice spilling on the floor. He then backed away slowly and stiffly before turning around and running away. Tenya, the guilt of his words hitting him, slumped back in his seat and buried his face in his hands.
"I'm sorry...I don't know what came over me..."
"Man, you went Hannibal Lector on that jerk," Mei said as she turned to Setsuna. "Did you guys have to put up with him a lot before the changes to the classes were made?"
"Oh yeah, big time..."
Eri, Mahoro, and Katsuma watched sadly at where Monoma had run off. Even though the class had told them to stay away from him since he was little more than a petty bully, they still couldn't help but feel bad for him.
Monoma was curled up at the front gates of UA, sobbing his eyes out as all the words Tenya had said to him had crushed him like a massive weight. If the Sports Festival hadn't already hammered it into him that he could never be a Hero, the blistering words he had received were what sealed it.
Suddenly, a sound of warping was heard as Monoma looked up to see a familiar pale-skinned young man with light blue hair. One of his arms was a black metal prosthetic with six glimmering stones attached and clawed fingers.
"Hey, Monoma Neito, was it? We heard how you got so unjustly kicked out of the Hero Course. How about you come with me? Me and my brothers are MUCH more understanding individuals..."
"What have I got to lose...?" Monoma said with a dead look in his eyes as he followed Tomura into the light blue portal he had created with the Space Stone, the two of them vanishing as if they weren't even there...
Hope you like this chapter because it's the last one of the unedited version i found.
Happy Easter!