Beneath the Hero's Mask
Chapter 5
All-Might explained the exercise for the lesson. The class would be split into pairs and face each other in 2v2 Battle Trials; one team would play the role of Heroes and the other of Villains. The Heroes' objective was to secure the nuclear weapon in the Villains' possession or to apprehend their opponents. On the other hand, the Villains would win if the timer ran out, or if they captured the two members of the opposite team. Teams would be determined by drawing lots.
"Alright! Let's draw the teams…" The teacher said as he put a hand in the box. "Team A is… Uraraka and Midoriya!"
Ren smiled as he thought of Izuku and his evident interest intheir brown-haired classmate. "Good for him. If he plays this smoothly, it can be a good opportunity to impress her."
All-Might continued the drawing of the teams. "Team B will be Todoroki and Shoji. Team C is… Yaoyorozu and Amamiya!"
Ren's ears perked up at the mention of his name. He then stole a furtive glance at the girl who would be his partner for the exercise. Her demeanour was as serious as usual, but nevertheless she seemed satisfied to be paired with Ren. After all, they were both the highest-ranking students in Mr. Aizawa's Quirk assessment test.
She turned to face him and started walking towards him. Probably to strategize about their upcoming team-up.
"You sure know how to make a dramatic entrance. That is quite a striking outfit." She said.
"Thank you. Yours is pretty cool too." He returned the compliment instinctively. He then finally took a good look at her hero costume from up close, and heat started to rise to his face. Her outfit was a lot more... unrestraining than he would have expected.
"It's functional, but it's not exactly what I wanted. I originally requested the designers to use less fabric to facilitate my creation Quirk, but it apparently clashed with costume regulations, so I guess I'll make do with this."
"Oh, that's too bad. It would've definitely been better with more exposed skin…" Ren said without realising how that sounded, he blushed when it finally dawned on him. "To help with your Quirk and all that, I mean!" He quickly added to recover.
All-Might's voice interrupted their conversation. "The first match is about to begin! Team A and Team D, get in position. Everyone else, head to the monitoring room to spectate."
Ren was particularly interested in this match. Izuku and Uraraka were playing Heroes against Bakugo and Ida. He had heard about Izuku's impressive performance at the entrance exam, but this would be the first time he'd get to see him in action.
Once everything was ready, a loud horn signalled the beginning of the match. Ren settled back with anticipation. This fight was going to be interesting…
In just a few minutes, team A achieved victory, and Izuku collapsed to the ground.
Ren could not believe his eyes. The green-haired boy brought half the building crumbling down with a single punch, yet he was out cold one second later. Just like his finger the day before, his punching arm was severely mangled. It was almost unfathomable that such a small boy could exert such colossal power. Could that be the reason he hurt himself? Was his Quirk literally too much for his body to handle?
Ren noticed a small robot carrying Izuku out of the training facility on a stretcher.
"Wait! Let me help, I can heal him." He shouted as he started running towards his friend.
All-Might extended an arm in front of him to stop him. "Hold up, young Amamiya. Your eagerness to help your classmate is commendable, but you should focus on your own battle; your team is almost up. Don't worry, Recovery Girl will take good care of young Midoriya."
Ren reluctantly agreed and returned to the group of students. The class moved on to the next Battle, Todoroki and Shoji as the heroes versus Ojiro and Jiro as the villains.
Unfortunately, this match lasted even less than the previous one. Todoroki used his Ice Quirk to freeze the entire building in a flash, instantly immobilising the villains without even breaking a sweat. Everyone commented on the astonishing display of power by Todoroki.
"Not only is his talent outstanding, he already has great control over his Quirk." Yaoyorozu said.
Ren felt a small twinge of jealousy. The truth was, he wanted to impress his partner too. He felt motivated to try even harder and not hold back during the exercise.
"Guess I'm going to have to use some old tricks." He thought
It was now his team's turn. They were going to be Villains against team G, Kaminari and Hagakure.
Ren and Yaoyorozu took position on the top floor of the building where the pretend nuclear weapon was located; they began drafting their game plan for the battle.
"With her Quirk, Hagakure excels in stealth; they are probably planning on ambushing us. We better play defensively." She said.
"That's exactly what they'll expect us to do. We need to go on the offensive and catch them off-guard if we want to win this." He retorted.
"You speak like a man with a plan…"
"Do you think you can make night-vision goggles?"
She grabbed the book fastened to her back and quickly flipped through its pages. "I could make an image enhancing device. Why?"
"Thanks to Hagakure's Quirk they have the factor of visibility over us. We're going to level the playing field. Follow me…"
With Yaoyorozu in tow, Ren exited the room and walked down the hall towards a maintenance closet, where a rusty fuse box hung in the wall. He opened the fuse box, exposing the cabling within. He opened his palm, and with a flash of azure fire, his trusty dagger appeared on his hand.
A lightbulb went on in Yaoyorozu's head when she understood her partner's plan. She quickly pulled out a pair of night-vision googles from her navel and offered them to Ren.
"Those are for you." He said.
"What about you?"
"Don't worry about me, just follow my lead. Ready?"
She nodded and put on the device. Ren severed every cable with his blade, and the entire building sunk in darkness.
"If you create a distraction, I can sneak past them and secure the weapon" Hagakure said to her partner.
They were on the ground floor of the building, strategizing their next move.
Kaminari nodded. "That seems like the best course of action. Both Yaoyorozu and Amamiya have incredibly versatile quirks. Our best hope to win this fight is the element of surprise."
"Let's do this! I'm gonna take off all my clothes and totally disappear."
"Alright… Wait! You mean you're not wearing anything besides those gloves and shoes?"
"Yes. So don't look, okay?"
"It's not like I can see you anyway!"
"They are probably going to stay on the top floor to guard the weapon closely. I'm going to scout ahead. Stay here, I'll be right back." The girl said before walking away.
Once he was pretty sure he was alone, Kaminari thought out loud to himself. "Mmm, I wonder what she actually looks like… She's probably hot. She sounds hot."
All of a sudden, the lights went out. Kamminari imbued his hand with electricity to try to illuminate the way.
"What the—?"
Before he could finished his sentence, a strange force struck him from behind. He quickly turned around, but he could not see anything beyond his own hand.
"Ugh, I can't see anything."
He took a step forward when he felt another hit from the side.
"Ouch. That hurt!" He stopped for a moment to consider his options. "I have no other choice; I can't hit what I can't see. I hope Hagakure's not around…"
He channelled his power and covered his whole body with electric energy.
"Indiscriminate Shock!"
"This is bad. I can't see a thing." Hagakure said.
She walked aimlessly until she heard a strange noise.
"Kaminari? Are you there?"
The invisible girl followed the corridor towards the source of the sound. She saw an opening connecting to a side room at the end of the hallway. Bursts of yellow light and the buzz of electricity emanated from it, as well as loud thumping. It sounded like a fight was taking place.
"Kaminari!" She immediately dashed towards the light.
Upon entering the new area, she didn't find her partner. Instead, she found herself face to face with a large skeletal pirate, shooting bolts of lightning around the room from the cannon in his arm.
"Wait a second, that's the same skeleton as…" Her eyes went wide when it dawned on her. "No. It's a trap!"
She turned around and attempted to retreat, but she ended up bumping into a tall shadowy figure. The girl flinched and braced herself for an inevitable attack. An attack that never came.
In front of her, Ren stood frozen in place. His brain was still processing what he was seeing. When he activated his Third Eye to see in the dark, he did not expect to be met by the sight of a beautiful girl, completely naked.
The Third Eye had always allowed Ren to see things imperceptible by most people, but he never stopped to think that it would probably let him see his invisible classmate as well. He was thankful for the absence of light to conceal how deeply red his face had gotten.
He was pulled down back to earth by a sharp squeal released by the girl before fleeing. He shook himself back alert and took up chase. It didn't take long before he caught up to her. Ren used a tackle to pin down his target, and with extreme care about the placement of his hands, he proceeded to tie Hagakure with a rope provided by Yaoyorozu.
Ren stood up and averted his gaze from the girl, who was tugging and struggling to free herself from the binds. Ren couldn't help but feel awfully dirty. "I'm very sorry for this."
He headed back to find his own partner. When he reached Yaoyorozu, he saw her standing with a large blanket over her shoulders, the night-vision goggles on her forehead, and small lantern in hand illuminating the vicinity. Kaminari was sitting down, leaning against a wall. He had an absent-minded smile and a little bit of drool escaped his mouth; he seemed to be pretty out of it. Ren noticed the blond boy was playing with a Russian nesting doll.
"Did he give you a lot of trouble?"
"Not at all. He tried to take me down with using his Quirk, but this insulation sheet protected me from the electricity. He ended up overusing his power and frying his own brain. Then he just sat down with that loopy face. I gave him that to keep him entertained."
Kaminari fidgeted with the doll in his hand. "It's so cute. I wonder what's inside… Whoa, it's an even smaller doll! I wonder what's inside this one…*gasp* No way!"
A horn echoed through the building, succeeded by All-Might's voice coming from the P.A. "The two Heroes are out of combat! The victors of this round are the Villains of Team C! Both teams head back to the monitoring room for a match review."
"Well, that went swimmingly. Nicely done, partner." "Can you go untie Hagakure so we can head back?" She said.
"Why don't you do it? I'll take care of our zappy boy over here."
"Alright."
Ren waited in place until Yaoyorozu returned with Hagakure behind her. He then helped Kaminari up and supported him on his shoulder. The four of them made a beeline for the monitoring room.
Once they arrived, they were welcomed by the lively praise of All-Might. "Excellent work, team C! You took your opponents down proactively and efficiently!"
"They didn't really do much. It was more like they let their opponents defeat themselves." Jiro said.
"That is but another point in their favour. With thorough planning they were able to discern their enemies' strengths and weaknesses and used them against them. And the psychological warfare of a surprise attack from the shadows cannot be understated!" The teacher said. "Who wants to tell me which of the participants is most deserving of the MVP title?"
Sero was the first to raise his hand. "It's gotta be Yaoyorozu, right? Her quick thinking against Kaminari gave them the upper hand."
"It could be Amamiya too. His plan to turn off the lights and his deception against Hagakure were pretty clever. Although he did choke for a minute there for no reason…" Asui interjected. "Which reminds me, how did you manage to see in the dark without your own pair of night vision goggles?"
Tokoyami was curious as well. "On top of that, how did you catch Hagakure so quickly like that? Even if you had night vision, she should still be invisible."
"Is no one going to mention how he conjured a freaking knife out of nowhere?!" Kirishima asked from the back.
Once again everyone's eyes were on Ren.
"I guess I should've told you earlier. It's all part of my Quirk… I have this sort of sixth sense. It allowed me to perceive things that most people cannot. I can use it to track a target, read someone's aura, or see in the dark." He said, looking at the ground. "And apparently it also lets me see through Hagakure's invisibility."
Hagakure looked confused for a second. "Wait, do you mean that… No!" She quicky used her gloves to try and cover herself.
An awkward silence took over the room as everyone slowly realised what Ren meant, and its implication with Hagakure's costume. People began to stare, and the invisible girl ran away in embarrassment.
All-Might coughed into his fist trying to disarm the tension and change the subject. "Let's move on to the next match…"
Soon enough, all battles concluded and All-Might congratulated the class for their great work on first lesson of Hero Basic Training before dismissing them with haste. He quickly bolted through the exit, like he had somewhere urgent to be.
Class 1-A changed back into their uniforms and returned to their homeroom for the rest of their afternoon classes, which felt like an unbearable drag after the excitement of the Battle Trial. Eventually, the final bell rang, and the students stood from their seats to chat and discuss the events of the day before packing their things to leave.
Shortly after, the door opened and Izuku entered the classroom. He looked a lot better than earlier, but he still had some minor cuts and bruises, and he had his arm in a sling. His classmates rushed to him, wanting to express admiration for his incredible performance during the Battle Trial, as well as concern for his health.
A shy smile appeared on Izuku's face. "Thank you, guys" he said as he scratched the back of his head. "By the way, has anyone seen Kacchan?"
"You just missed him. He looked a lot more irritable than usual."
He immediately rushed back outside, presumably to catch up with Bakugo.
Ren figured his friend must've had some important business with the ruffian. They'd probably walk home separately that day. He picked up his bag and stood from his desk, but before leaving he also had something to do. He activated his Third Eye and slowly approached his only invisible classmate.
"Hey Hagakure… I just wanted to apologise for using my Quirk to… to see you back during the Battle Trial. I expected to be able to see just your aura, not your entire body so clearly. I honestly had no idea it would work like that; I have never met anyone with an invisibility Quirk before."
She didn't respond right away. She was way too embarrassed. He continued on with his apology.
"I'm not going to lie and say I didn't see anything, but if it's any consolation, I was mostly distracted by your hair."
"My hair?"
"Yes, your hair. It is quite beautiful, I must say."
She was taken aback by the compliment. No one had ever complimented her looks before. Ever since she was little, she tried to compensate her lack of visibility with an acute fashion sense and an extroverted, bubbly personality with the hopes of making people notice her. Because of the nature of her Quirk, she never concerned herself much with her physical appearance besides her clothes. However, for some reason she always felt oddly proud of her hair. It was shoulder-length with a strawberry-blonde colour, and she always took special care of it. She diligently brushed and treated it with the best hair products regularly. She was well aware that no one besides her could see it, but she still did it, only for herself. And yet, now for the first time ever, someone else admired all the effort she put into her hair. She was speechless; a strange sensation spread through her chest.
She blushed. "I-I see… T-thank you." When she remembered that Ren could actually see her blushing, she blushed even harder.
"I'm still very sorry. I uh… I can let you see me naked if that'd make you feel better."
She laughed. "That's not necessary. I accept your apology; I know you didn't have any bad intentions. Besides, I should probably get used to it. Since you're the only one who can see me, it wouldn't make sense to change my Hero costume. And I can't expect you to just not use your Quirk whenever I'm around."
It was now Ren's turn to blush as he realised that seeing his classmate unclad was going to become a common occurrence. He mentally slapped himself. He needed to get it together, he didn't want to be a creep like Mineta.
Ren bowed. "Thank you, Hagakure. I appreciate your trust in me. I promise that I will treat you with the utmost professionalism and respect whenever we use our Hero costumes."
"There's no need to be so formal, and you can just call me Toru. I'd say you've gotten to know me well enough to be on a first name basis. Don't you think so, Ren?" She said with a wide smile.
He returned the smile. "Right. Thank you, Toru."
"You're welcome, Ren. I gotta get going. See ya tomorrow!" She picked up her things and waved him goodbye while she left the classroom.
Ren felt content with the result of his apology. He turned to leave as well when Kaminari and Mineta abruptly appeared in front of him, blocking his path.
"So, Amamiya. We've heard you can see through Hagakure's invisibility"
"...What about it?"
"I'm going to need a thorough description. Don't spare any details. Start with her measurements. Hold on! let me guess... 83-60-85?" Kaminari said.
Ren was creeped out by both his salaciousness, and by the uncanny accuracy of his estimate.
"Would you be willing to sit down with a forensic artist to draw a composite sketch?" Mineta asked.
Ren pressed the bridge of his nose, vexed by the two obscene boys' antics. "Umm… Yeah, I'm going to go home now. You guys really need to work on your people skills. See you tomorrow." He said as he exited the room.
"Amamiya, wait! Come back here!"
It was useless, he was already out of earshot.