Last chapter of the week, first chapter of 2023. Happy new year everyone!
(XX)
"We need to do something." Momo said, watching as another of their teammates was sent flying off and land in the lake. Thankfully, everyone knew how to swim, though Momo supposed her team was organized in such a way the people in it wouldn't drown. Maybe Gran Torino would have picked them up as well, but she wasn't sure she believed it.
"I agree." Jiro replied, and the Seiai girl nodded as well, "But what?"
Momo bit her lip. Crust was standing on top of the boat by now, but could they really do anything about him without damaging the ship?
She wanted to say yes, but she wasn't sure of how.
"Momo?" Jiro asked, and as she turned towards her, Momo noticed her worried look.
"Sorry, Jiro. I-I'm not sure-"
"Hey, it's alright." Jiro gave her a thumbs up, "You are the smartest girl in the class. I'm sure you can come up with a plan."
Momo smiled and took a deep breath. She looked at the ship again. The main hurdle was reaching the boat. She had used a lot of her resources to make the boat.
What would Bakugo do? Well, definitely jump over there using his explosions-
"I have an idea." Momo said.
"Great!" Jiro grinned, "I knew you would, Yaomomo."
"Uhm… it will be risky though. Do you trust me?"
"Of course I do."
"I'm having second thoughts." Kyoka said.
"I… It's…" Yaoyorozu was sitting on the ground, panting. She had used up all of her lipids, apparently, and wasn't even able to stand. Which was brave and all, but was kinda ruined by the stuff she had made.
Specifically the cannon whose mouth Jiro was leaning in.
"Why do I have to be the human cannonball?"
"You are the leanest one among us." The Seiai girl said, pointing to her chubby features while preparing to light the cannon, "Your chest and flanks are reliably thin."
"Did you just call me flat?!"
"Yes. Now, grab the stuff and get ready."
"Do you even know how to fire a cannon?" The Seiai girl projected the Hologram of a crosshair and started to aim, "Point taken."
Kyoka took a deep breath, and held tight on the small bag Yaoyorozu had created as her last effort before having to stop.
"Good luck… Jiro…" Momo managed to murmur giving her a reassuring smile. Jiro gave her another, far more shaky thumbs up.
And then the Seiai girl fired.
Kyoka flew high over the lake, and as she did she fumbled with the bag. 'This is the craziest thing I've done in my life.' The image of Yayorozu's smile came back to her, 'Yeah, worth it.'
"A new challenger! Excellent!" Crust roared seeing Jiro fly his way. The Seiai girl had aimed high, to make sure Jiro passed over the yacht instead of ramming into it, which would have been… unhealthy. She grabbed the first item inside the bag and tossed it.
The flashbang exploded, blinding Crust. Hopefully. She quickly searched the bag again, grabbed the second item, and as she was starting to lose speed launched it at the Hero's back, before using a blast of sound to tear the fragile bag open.
A rain of powder dropped on Crust, and then Jiro grabbed the last item, donning the life vest quickly before she used her Quirk to slow the impact with the water, the soundwaves' recoil pushing her back enough she landed instead of falling. She panted and started to swim back to the ship. Halfway there, she got helped up by one of the other students, who was standing on the makeshift boat Yaoyorozu had created earlier.
"What did you do?!" The guy asked.
"Something very effective or very stupid."
"What?"
"Agh!" Crust shouted.
"Very effective it is." They climbed on the ship, to find the Hero was scratching himself uncontrollably. "Itchy powder."
"Y-You Heroes b-better not think this c-can stop…"
"I don't think it will for long," Kyoka said, as she aimed her amplifier boots at him, "So we better take the chance."
Every other student seemed to share the same idea, each of them activating their Quirk.
Crust smiled, even through the constant scratching. "Ah! Now that's what I call being Heroes!"
"Ganging up on a Villain that is having trouble?"
"… It's more the spirit of the thing." Crust amended.
Then the Quirks aimed at him fired.
"Stay still fucking Playboy Icon Wannabe!" Bakugo shouted, firing his Quirk over and over. Miruko just kept dodging out of the way, and sometime punching each of them. She wasn't using her legs at all to attack, only to block their blows.
"Ah! I like that one!" Mirko zoomed past him and punched Welding Girl in the chest, making her gasp as she went to the ground.
"Goddammit you extras! Get the fuck out of the way with the hostages if you can't keep up with Lola Bunny!" Bakugo shouted.
"Bakugo, they won't cooperate if you talk to them like that." Tsuyu said, pulling him out of the way just as Miruko punched the position where he was a moment before.
"Ffffffine." He took a deep breath. This 'be nicer' thing was a lot harder to do in combat, he hoped at least Yaoyorozu and Tsuyu appreciated the effort. As they landed next to the others, Bakugo growled, "Zombie Fart, Frost Mask, Ninja Wannabe Green, you three grab Welding Girl and take her and the fake hostages out of here. Snake Face, you cover their retreat. If Muscle Bunny comes after you, blast her with that glare of yours, it's the only thing that's keeping her from getting back the hostages. The others, fire off your Quirks at her all at once."
"Who the fuck did you just call Zombie Fart?!" Zombie Fart shouted, but he was ignored.
"Is this really going to work?" A guy from Ketsubutsu asked.
"I don't fucking know, but do you want to lose or to find out?" He asked. The Ketsubutsu guy in response just fired.
Miruko cackled maniacally as she charged at them, and Bakugo grinned back. Fucking Deku got to train with this woman all the time? He better be learning some aggressiveness.
"What's the plan?" Sekigai asked. In response, Izuku activated Full Cowling.
"Shindo, Nakagame and I will fight them head on. Mora, you, your classmate, Sekigai, Himiko and Intelli will take the hostages to safety."
"What?!" All three girls shouted.
"What? You are an infiltrator, Himiko, so you are more of use acting as support there instead of fighting them here. Intelli, your Quirk makes you smarter, so I trust you can apply first aid to any injured civilian and take them to safety. Sekigai, your Chart Quirk should help you if one of the Villains comes after you, to find the weak spots. Mera and his classmate will simply act as reinforcements."
Everyone blinked, before Intelli finally spoke, "Y-You just came up with that?"
"I mean, you were nice enough to tell me your Quirks and usual combat style, so…"
"Are you done?!" Tomura shouted.
"Give us another minute!" Himiko shouted.
"Why would I?!"
"Because Villains are always supposed to give the Heroes time to prepare, that makes crushing them more fulfilling since then both sides know their best was not enough!" Himiko shouted back.
"… Of course, I knew that. Go on then!"
"Alright, he bought that. What of the others?" She asked.
"Everyone else here has long range Quirks. You guys should keep the people we aren't fighting moving, so we can hit them while they are busy dodging."
"Isn't there a risk we might hit one another?" Tadan asked.
"We will trust you on that I guess." Shindo replied giving a wink. Tadan nodded back.
"Alright, let's go! From now on we use the Hero Names! Lucky Strike, fire a cover attack until we get there!" Valiant shouted, rushing forward, Grand and Turtle Neck following him. Tadan, now Lucky Strike, fired a rain of missiles, and Valiant watched them rain out of his suit and onto their enemies. The explosions weren't as strong as Kacchan's, but they produced more light and smoke, making them ideal to split up the opponents.
He glanced briefly back at Carmilla, and his girlfriend gave him a smile that charged him up even more. He was ready.
"Hello everyone, and welcome to a new episode of Vestiges react." En waved at the camera. Nana found it mildly concerning that there was a floating camera in the Vestiges realm, but she supposed it was just another construct like the chair she was sitting on or their room.
"Please stop it." The Second groaned.
"Oh, one of our rare commentators, the great Second, has something to say." En leaned forward, pointing a microphone he had also just created toward the man, "Give us a comment. What do you expect from this fight?"
"I hope he gets hurt."
"Valiant or Handjob?"
"Yes."
"Eesh, harsh much?" En shook his head, "Now let's hear from mister Banjo. Say Banjo, what do you think of the current situation?"
"Well, in my expert opinion, as one of the few Vestiges that actually managed to get some action, if Valiant plays his cards right, a foursome is not out of the question, he just needs to-"
"I meant about Handjob."
"Well, I hope he manages to get more than that but it's a start I suppose." Nana slapped him in the back of the head, "They hated him because he spoke the truth…"
"Anyway!" En cleared his throat, "I'm sorry for that, dear viewers, I understand this is a bit crass for the standards of our programs. Let's turn to our resident hermit for something more wholesome. Tell us something about the current fight, Shinomori."
"I think Valiant will easily win, En. He has the better Quirk, and it's hard to imagine he will lose at any point. Especially since I doubt Handjob will use his Quirk at all. He would have a hard time hiding his identity with a Quirk so similar to his Villain self."
"That's a good point. Yoichi, a closing comment for the camera? What is it like to watch your nephew call himself Handjob?"
"I hate my life."
"You heard it here first, everyone, Yoichi Shigaraki is officially done. It took over a century of isolation but he is done!"
"Who are you even talking to?!" Third shouted.
"You never know. Maybe one day someone will want to check all those videos."
"I refuse to believe someone would."
"Guys, the battle is starting." Nana said, "Please, stop."
"Alright, time for the commentary then." Banjo made a desk appear in front of him and another in front of En.
"I hate my life so much." Yoichi repeated.
Togaraki emerged from the smoke, hand open and inches from his face.
'He can't disintegrate me, right?' Valiant wondered. Between the peace deal with the Villain family and the simple fact that Tomura was here undercover, he should have been unable to use his Quirk, so why was he?
Then a cloud of dust shot out of Tomura's hand, hitting him point blank. Valiant's eyes started to tear up just as he was forced to stumble back, sneezing and coughing. "What the – cough – did you…"
"My Quirk is Dust!" He proudly declared.
Izuku groaned. Of course Tomura had switched up his Quirk for this, which also explained why no one was asking if Handjob and Shimura Togaraki were the same person. Not only did they look different, since one actually washed, they also both had a vastly different Quirk.
"What do you think, 'Valiant'?" The man whispered as he punched him in the face. "I figured I'd level up my stealth a bit if we have to fight."
Izuku kicked forward, an habit he was picking up more and more from Miruko. He had found that mixing up his punches with kicks gave great results. Shigaraki dodged the kick, but then Grand and Turtle Neck popped out of the smoke, both rushing for him.
Tomura crossed his arms, the palms pointing toward the two, and a cloud of dust shot out of both arms, forcing both Grand and Turtle Neck to stumble back. They made to rush in again, only for the two 'sidekicks' from Tomura's agency to jump in, attacking them both. They both swung their swords-
"Why are your sidekicks fighting with swords, Tomura?"
"It's their Quirk." The man replied flatly.
They stared at each other for a long moment, before Izuku spoke. "That's a lie."
"Well I'm not telling you."
Izuku looked at them a moment, then nodded, "Tomura, do they even have useful Quirks for this fight?"
They stared at each other once more, before Tomura spoke. "I don't have to tell you anything, 'Valiant'."
Valiant sighed and rushed forward, ducking under another cloud of dust and then punching, holding back to make sure he only hurt Tomura a bit. After all, he wasn't a villain right now. Also, he was his girlfriend's brother, and one day he would be his b-b-b-brother in law… Izuku shook his head, 'Focus Izuku. He is probably coming at you from the front again.'
Sure enough, Tomura appeared from the cloud of smoke again, and in response Izuku kicked… only for the Tomura that had charged him to dissolve into a cloud of Dust, the real Tomura appearing from his left and spraying him in the face with more dust. "You can make dust clones?!"
"I can make dust clones." Tomura said with a nod.
"That is so cool! Do you have a limit? I guess so since you didn't use one from the start. I guess they are easy to tell apart, but due to Lucky Shot's Quirk we are surrounded by smoke, so it's the perfect chance for you. I guess there is also a number limit? And I assume they are fairly static, no way you could just create full-on clones. They are likely more like Snatch's sand puppet-"
"Valiant." Tomura dodged a sudden torrent of water that one of the Seijin students launched from his mouth, and then a metallic ball shot from the Seiai girl, "Please don't make this rivalry pathetic."
"You are the one that decided to make a fifteen-year-old his sworn rival!"
"I didn't! It's your fault that you keep popping up in my business' way!" Tomura replied, rushing in close and swinging wide, releasing more dust in his way, "I was doing great until you showed up! Mark my words, 'Valiant', I will make you pay for everything you have done!"
'Woah, where did that come from? I guess he is really pissed about what I did at the bank.' Valiant sighed, 'Well, I'm not sorry about saving people, dammit. I'm not going to say otherwise. But if I let Tomura figure out it would hurt me to see people get hurt, he will just attack locations away from me. What should I…'
Oh.
Oh, he could do that.
"I mean, if you don't want me in your way, you could just attack places away from me. Everyone knows which cities I operate in, so you would have it easy. You can just avoid me entirely. That will make your operations successful, since I'm not 'in the way'."
"… Are you implying I can't take you on?"
"I mean your goons sure couldn't. At the USJ they got beaten by my…" He wanted to say 'friends', but that would give Tomura ideas. Bad ideas. Also, since the truce with the Green Valley Clan was a thing, this would put everyone under better protection. The image of Hiryu declaring him a mastermind flashed in his mind for a moment. "My underlings."
"Your underlings?"
"Of course. I recruited all of 1-A already." 'Thank you Hiryu, your delusions are really useful sometimes.'
"So what? I recruited Muscular! Moonfish! Magne!" Tomura swung his fists with each name. Man he really wasn't that good at hand to hand combat, for a guy whose real Quirk was based on grabbing people. He was fast though. Without One for All, Valiant was fairly sure he would have already been beaten.
"… You are going for a theme?"
"What?"
"I mean is just, they all start with M, so I was wondering…"
"I-" Tomura paused, while dodging a giant screw thrown from the other Seijin student by jumping over it, "I also recruited Spinner!" He said, pointing to the guy to his right. The lizard guy in that moment got decked in the face by a punch from Grand. His skull vibrated and then he was sent flying away, spinning on the way down until he crashed right between them.
"… He seems nice."
"Goddammit Spinner!" Tomura shouted.
"I'm ok, boss…" A downed Spinner murmured raising a thumb up. Shindo had followed him and now raised a fist, ready to strike, and the lizard-man's eyes went wide, "On second thought, since we were told to play nice, I'm unconscious." Spinner corrected, before very unconvincingly gasping and slumping on the ground.
Valiant looked back up at Tomura. Tomura coughed in his fist. "Well, it was a hire four, pay three offer, was I supposed to say no to that?"
"Yes." Shindo and Valiant said in unison.
"Rude."
Tomura groaned, but before they could continue, a new rain of missiles exploded all over the field, pushing the villains away from the Heroes. And apparently hitting Spinner, who went from 'pretending to be unconscious' to 'actually unconscious'.
Valiant stepped back. "Are you ok, guys?"
"She is good." Turtle Neck replied, "What about him, boss?"
Izuku froze, then looked at Shindo. "What? She is my girlfriend, of course I told her who I am and who you are. What kind of irresponsible boyfriend wouldn't?"
Masutaro felt the need to sneeze, but held it back as him and a ninja entered a staring contest.
"… Can you let my girlfriend go?" He finally asked.
"Wait, this is your girlfriend man?" Edgeshot scratched the back of his head, looking at the invisible girl and then at Masutaro and Camie, "Awkward."
Uh. What was he talking about? Masutaro shook his head. "So… You are a Villain?"
"Yup."
"And you just took a hostage."
"Yep."
"We have reinforcements coming-"
"You don't. I took out the closest group before taking you on, so I can take all three of you out and move on before anyone notices."
Well damn, he was the Number 5 for a reason. "So… Why don't you?" Edgeshot stared at him, and Masutaro understood. He knew their Quirk had to do something, but he didn't knew what it was. That was why he had gone through the trouble of taking a prisoner.
The problem was, neither his nor Camie's Quirk was really useful here. His would affect everyone, and Camie's was very noticeable before it came into effect, since it started as a translucent mist. They were completely out of options… Or so he would soon guess. But Masutaro was Izukun's best friend. He had learned a thing or two about cooperation among different Quirks in that time.
"Camie…" He murmured, "On three, use your Quirk."
"Don't…"
"Tooru, flash him!" He shouted.
"Alright!" Tooru shouted back, and Edgeshot turned pale.
"Wait no don't-" Edgeshot started, reflexively letting her go before the girl started to shining brightly, before exploding in a cacophony of lights that made his eyes tear up, "Oh thank goodness, you meant this- I mean, agh, my eyes!"
"Three!"
"What's the point of counting to three if you are only going to say three…"
"Just do it!"
Camie sighed and activated her Quirk.
Edgeshot looked ahead. The corridor was empty. Tch, a teleportation Quirk? Those were always troublesome to pin down. Alternatively, maybe it was an invisibility Quirk. That was possible too, although having both an Invisible Girl and a girl that made things invisible at will on the same team seemed redundant.
He looked around carefully. No changes in the room's lighting. He turned his upper body into a thin thread and whipped it a couple times through the air, and suddenly touched something. Ah, so that was the game. They were hiding to his right, against the wall. Some sort of Quirk that disrupted his senses? He clearly saw his whip touch the wall, but could feel it touch the three.
With a sigh he stepped forward. "Good attempt, but-"
Click, said the floor.
"Click?" Edgeshot asked, bewildered, as he looked down.
Click, the landmine that he was sure wasn't there a moment ago agreed when it opened up and released a streamp of purple gas upward.
Masutaro, Tooru and Camie stumbled up the stairs, the two girls wearing the gas masks he had pulled out of his costume's pockets. He panted for the run, "I really… owe Mei… one. She designed those mines for… someone else… but then made this gas version…" He huffed, taking a deep breath, "Pretty cool, right?"
Hagakure huffed and walked off, marching toward the hostages room.
"… Did I say something?" Masutaro asked.
Camie glared at him and stormed off after Tooru.
"Geez, alright, go team."
Izuku dodged out of the way of another dust cloud and landed a punch. Tomura stumbled back, having to then duck under another stream of water, dodge a kick from Shindo and then a punch from Tatami. The blonde girl packed a punch, honestly. From what Izuku could tell, she pulled her arm back inside her shoulder using her Quirk, and then pushed it back out like she was firing it out of a flesh cannon.
It sounded disgusting but it was effective, so who was he to judge.
Tomura uppercutted the girl, sending her slump to the ground, and Shindo roared, hitting him with a open palm that sent vibrations through Tomura's body. He clearly didn't enjoy that, but then the sword-wielding sidekick attacked, forcing Shindo back.
Tomura panted. "Well then, Valiant, you have some strong allies-"
"Fire!" A voice roared, and Tomura yelped as he was forced to dodge rocket, steel balls, a giant screw and another shot of water.
"You have some strong allies but I-"
Another turn of attack, Tomura was forced to push the sidekick out of the way and as a result he ended up on the trajectory a steel ball, gasping when the ball hit him in the stomach.
"ButIamstillgoingtowin!" Tomura shouted quickly before releasing two Dust clones. Izuku kicked the air, dispersing them, and rushed forward to attack the original. Tomura straightened himself, ready to answer, the two aiming the attack forward-
"The Hero team wins!" A voice shouted.
"The fuck?"
"… Togaraki, did you send someone to recover the hostages?" Izuku asked.
"Recover what now?"
"We did it!" Sekigai and Intelli cheered, giving each other an high five.
"That's right girls, you did it!" A third voice said, sending chills down their spines. Before they could talk, they found an arm around each of their shoulder, as a black-haired girl dragged them closer in a hug, "Excellent work girls, you did great!" Himiko Shimura said.
"Ahah, well, your scouting was just as important, miss Shimura…" Sekigai nervously said, "Uhm, why do you have a knife in each hand?"
The girl gave the fakest gasp Intelli and Sekigai had ever heard, and looked at them, "Oh my, I wonder why I have them!"
"It's a great mystery." Intelli mumbled, uneasy.
"A question for the century…" Sekigai repeated.
"Right, right, it is. So, tell me, do you find my boyfriend attractive?"
Intelli had an IQ of 150, and her Quirk had boosted that even more. Usually, she was really good at answering questions, but for once she wasn't sure of what was the right answer to give.
Sekigai's own smarts were on just a slightly lower level, but she was still one of the smartest girls in her school. With a cough, though, she arrived at the only answer she could think of. Coincidentally, so did Intelli.
"Uhm… Maybe?" They said in unison.
Himiko Shimura chuckled, "Yup, just as I thought." The knives disappeared from her hand, and she hugged them both. "Oh, I'm so happy to know that more girls think my dear Izuku is attractive! And he is also kind, and brave, and intelligent, and ambitious, and…" She dragged them in even more and whispered, "He is mine."
"I…"
"See, I'd love to share, of course. Izuku deserves all the love in the world, and if it went for me the Valiantbowl would be real… so long as I get to be the one in charge. My boyfriend first and all that. Oh, I would definitely enjoy that, and you would too." She puffed in their ears, both girls feeling a shiver go down their spine in response, "Alas, I'm afraid my dear Izuku is barely able to hold himself together when he has one girlfriend. Too many cooks spoil the broth, you know?" She dragged them even closer, so much that she was basically breathing in Sekigai and Intelli's ears, "So to be clear, if I find you two anywhere near him for secondary reasons, I will show you why I'm the girlfriend of the future Number One." And with that she let them both go. "Alright girls, great chat! See you later!" She said, waving.
Sekigai and Intelli panted, still feeling like she was there, before looking at each other.
"I'm scared."
"Do we call off operation Dual Wielding?" Sekigai asked.
For a moment, she noticed Intelli consider the idea, then the girl shook her head. "Hell no! She was here first, but we are going to win in the end! It won't be a frankly scary girl that will get in the way of our d-"
"Intelli!"
"Date. Sekigai, we talked about this. Mind out of the gutter."
"Right. So, what do we do?"
"Well, we made first contact and now we know exactly what we have to do."
"Write our wills?"
"Never! She challenged us, and I'm Saiko Intelli! I do not surrender!" Saiko closed her fist tight, burning determination raging in her eyes.
"Uhm, so the plan…"
"The plan is unchanged! We made contact with the enemy and the target, now it's time for Operation Dual Wielding's main phase. We will grasp the target and hold on tight until he willingly comes to us!"
Sekigai turned bright red, "You are sure you are not doing this on purpose, are you?"
"Doing what on purpose?" Intelli asked.
Sekigai sighed.
Izuku watched Tomura walk off, grumbling about useless lizards and stupid hostages, and then joined Shindo and Tatami on the way down. The blonde girl huffed. "I didn't even get to show off my new super move…"
"Don't worry Tatami, I'm sure it's amazing." Izuku replied.
"Aww, thanks boss, you are really a nice guy."
Izuku sighed, "I don't suppose I can stop you from calling me boss, right?"
"Well, Shindo's dad was pretty clear I need to show the proper respect as a member of the Clan, so…"
"Right, right." Izuku sighed. Dammit. "But I have to ask, how are you so ok with joining us?"
"I mean, I just don't think Heroes can stop every crime. Way I see it, I'm just agreeing to not stop the crimes of one specific group. Doesn't mean I will stop fighting every criminal that stands in my way."
"What if you see a crime committed by the Clan?"
"I will intervene of course."
Shindo nodded, "We are clear on that. I'm going into the Hero business primarily to help people, and if that means having to stop something the Clan does, sometimes… Well they will have to accept it."
Valiant nodded, "Makes sense, I suppose." He really didn't know what else to say. At this point, he was starting to wonder just how many criminals were in the Hero business. Was it some sort of 'specialization' thing? He knew underground Heroes often had deals with criminals, of course, Himiko had told him about her internship and her meeting with his cousin, but… it was still different, wasn't it?
"Oh, by the way!" Shindo slapped his forehead, "My dad said he wants to talk with you tomorrow night. I think he invited everyone, but you are top of the list apparently."
"For what?"
"Something about the Shie Hassaikai? I think he mentioned you were the one that asked him to look into it."
Oh right, Izuku had done that. So there was something, after all? "Alright, I guess I'm lucky."
"Why?"
"Tomorrow I'm staying home to pack my stuff since next week we move to the dorms. So I won't have a problem coming at the meeting."
"Great! I'll tell dad."
Izuku nodded. He wondered idly what Isana wanted to talk about, then froze. Oh right, this would also be his first time acting as one of the leaders of the Green Valley Clan.
Oh boy. 'At least first I have a date with Himiko…'
Bakugo, Tsuyu, Todoroki, Uraraka, Jiro and Momo met in the plaza. It was more a coincidence than anything, really, and Bakugo walked off, ignoring the looks people sent to his bruised face and the clearly as bruised ego.
"Didn't win?" Uraraka asked.
"Miruko knocked us out and pursued the escaping team. Then she got turned into a zombie. Then it turned out that turning someone super agile into a zombie is a stupid idea. Then she killed us all. Then what followed were about ten minutes of zombie apocalypse." Tsuyu sighed.
"I wish I got to see that."
"Honestly it wasn't that entertaining." Tsuyu sighed, "What about you?"
"We had Wash."
"Oh, nice. It was fun then." Jiro said.
Todoroki and Uraraka's eyes were dead as they both looked at her. "I never want to see bubbles in my life." Uraraka said.
"The things he can do…" Todoroki shivered, "I'm not sure I ever want to get close to that monster."
"Oh come on, it's just Wash." Jiro said, "Super friendly, loves to make kids laugh, what could he have done?" In that moment, carried by the silence, an ominous laugh that sounded like 'WashWashWashWash' reached their ears. Uraraka yelped and started to frantically look around.
"Ooook… Well, we had Crust." Jiro said.
"Did he beat you?"
"We got a draw. We actually beat him, but he declared a Villain would never let a Hero just win and used his shield to cut the ship in half. Professor Torino just said 'Yeah, he would do that' and awarded us half points." Yaoyorozu sighed, "And he colled me Moyarozumo. I feel like he remembers my name less now than when we started."
Tsuyu looked at her, then back at Jiro, and leaned close to the punk girl. "Any progress?" She whispered.
"I think I fucked it up. We talked a bit but mostly about the lesson. No real progress. What about you?"
"It went well."
"Good for you." Jiro said with a smile, though Tsuyu could tell she was worried.
"Say, Yaoyorozu." Tsuyu suddenly said, "Jiro and I are going out tonight. Karaoke. Want to come?"
"What are you doing?" Jiro hissed.
"Helping you. We are each other's wingowomen, after all."
Yaoyorozu looked at them, and then her eyes started to sparkle, "Absolutely! I'd love to spend some time together!"
"Great." Tsuyu smiled. She looked at Uraraka, and the girl shrugged.
"Sorry, I have to pay Todoroki back for the dinner he offered me after the Sports Festival, so tonight I'm taking him out- I mean, inviting him out- I mean…" Uraraka started to mumble, turning a bit more red every second.
"She means we are going to have dinner together." Todoroki said. Jiro, Yaoyorozu and Tsuyu all gasped, "Why is that so surprising?"
"It's just a friendly dinner!" Uraraka added, still bright red.
The three girls looked at her for a long moment, then Jiro and Tsuyu glanced at each other.
And then they both laughed.
"Giiiiirls!"
Masutaro sighed, watching Camie leave. They had won the exercise, since Edgeshot was unconscious for long enough, but he had fucked up. As Camie had pointed out, he had both known about her Quirk and called her by name multiple times.
The only saving grace was that she couldn't prove anything for now, and he had to wonder how long that would last. He shook his head and rushed to Tooru.
"I'm here." He said, "Sorry, that girl was really weird. Uhm, about tonight…"
"What were you two doing earlier?" Tooru asked. Masutaro looked at her.
"What?"
"She was… Leaning in and you were looking at her and…" Tooru shook her head, "What were you doing?"
Oh. Oh. That was what it looked like? So that's why Edgeshot had called it awkward.
Eeeeeeeeew, no. No for several reasons the chief one being the most obvious. Eeeeeew.
"Look, Tooru, it's just a misunderstanding, I swear. She thought I was someone she knows and was very insistent about it."
For a long moment, his girlfriend didn't talk, but then she sighed. "Alright, I believe you." He took the biggest sigh of relief of his life. "But! You are taking me out for dinner tonight for giving me such a scare."
"… I guess I can do that."
"You guessed right." Tooru said, grabbing him by the arm. Masutaro sighed in relief again.
Tooru wasn't sure what to think. She knew Masutaro was being honest. She could see it in his eyes. But he wasn't telling her everything.
Was that girl an ex? It seemed unlikely, but who knew? She didn't actually know that much about her boyfriend's past. She didn't want to push him, but…
She stopped herself. She would just ask him later. He would tell her, for sure.
Banjo yawned. "Well, that was fun."
En nodded. "Indeed, but I think we are forgetting something."
"One for All's dignity?" Yoichi asked.
"Nah, something important." Banjo replied. Yoichi tossed his chair at him.
-
"Come back with that hostage, Villain!" Iida shouted.
"Mwahahahah, never! Catch me, Hero!" Tensei shouted back, barely holding back a laugh as he ran away carrying the fake hostage.
"Should we tell them the exercise is over?" A Seiai girl asked Pony.
"Nah, they look like they are having fun."
(XX)
A very good training exercise, for sure. Poor Tomura, the only guy he could bring to work is canonically the least skilled League member. At least he had Beros around.
Himiko makes things clear, while Hagakure plans to do the same later. I'm sure both of those will work out perfectly. About as sure as the fact that Uraraka's dinner will be just a dinner.
Operation Dual Wielding established first contact! Will our duo of high school girls manage to succeed in their long-term goals? Only time - and Himiko's mercy - will tell.
