My Jirou Academia Chapter 7: Space Invaders
When had she stopped denying she loved him?
Was it during the first time they spoke? Was it when his arms wrapped around her back in the cafeteria? Was it after she found out about One for All? Or when she could no longer watch his body battered and beaten after every incident? Maybe it was the moment his wrapped, broken arms entered into frame, Jirou no longer being able to avoid those emotions. Whenever it was, it didn't matter, they were now in a relationship and she couldn't be happier.
Bakugo ended up winning the sports festival, just like how he proclaimed he would. His face told another story: someone who wanted to defeat everyone at their peak ended up with a consolation prize of first place. Not like he could do much about it, Todoroki's state of mind was an enigma that only a few people were aware of.
Apart from the results of the titular event, every girl took the news of the first relationship in their class quite well. At first, Jirou struggled whether to divulge the intimate moment she and Izuku shared. She racked her brain when walking back to the stands. Yes, the girls had given her that confidence boost needed to take that enormous leap of faith. That didn't mean she was obliged to tell them, and she'd be putting a secret that could hurt Izuku into other people's hands. Yet, when those expecting faces met her own, she couldn't help but relent.
"Way to go Kyo!" Mina shortened Jirou's first name to a newfound nickname. She extended her hand with a big thumbs up. Being the most emphatic out of the group, this was a tamer reaction than what could've been. Maybe she did so to keep the boys from finding out, lowering her tone too.
"Jirou." Then came Tsuyu, who's expression remained static. Her big round eyes simply looked at some part of Jirou's face. Following a wait of a few seconds, her eyes closed and a faint smile similar to one she'd done before appeared. She looked proud, happy, and at peace simultaneously. This girl was an angel, she had to be.
"Stand alone by the riverside, and watch the bodies of your enemies float by." Then came ….. Huh?! Tokoyami?! Why he was sitting so close to the girls and overhearing the situation, was beyond everyone there. His comment seemed… supportive at least. In a morbid, irreverent, and cryptic manner, but supportive nonetheless. The gaggle of girls gave him a concerned stare in unison, then continued.
"Ahh, love stories are always so heartwarming, aren't they?!" Hagakure put her hands on some indiscriminate part of her face. She looked to be relishing the news.
Everyone else praised Jirou for her courage, with some general statements thrown about. If only Yaomomo wasn't absent, she would probably join in on the growing cheering party. Though her absence was completely understandable seeing how upset she was about losing to Tokoyami.
During these positive happenings and wholesome moments, a dreadful evil brewed. One that would manifest with a simple phone call. A call to their class representative, who would leave for the hospital in worry of his injured brother.
Hero Killer: Stain, a despicable villain with somewhat noble convictions. His criminal acts and ideology started a snowball effect that would eventually uproot society. Although for now, his importance was limited to mentally scarring Iida.
His elder brother was paralyzed from the waist down as a result of engaging the Hero Killer. Iida had abandoned the path of heroes for a while, seeking revenge for the incident. After a close encounter with death, he was bailed out by two of his classmates. First, Izuku, who jumped in without a second thought at the sight. He moved differently, like he finally got accustomed to quirk usage. However, he was quickly overcome by Stain's own ability. They were sure to lose everything, only to be saved by Todoroki who responded instantly to Izuku's cryptic distress signal.
An arduous fight ensued, one in which all three of them received major injuries. This in itself would've been alarming enough, but for someone entirely removed from the action epicenter, watching her boyfriend once again embroiled deep into trouble pained her heart. Jirou wasn't free to visit the hospital they were admitted into, her own hero agency needed her present. Therefore, she settled in receiving somewhat tepid text messages from the greenie. Things like 'Everyone's okay' or 'Our recovery is going well' were exchanged. With such constant lack of information, her anxiety grew the more she was apart from him. This could've also been her want for affection, a side effect from their new relationship. Izuku was all she could think of, even through her hero agency work.
So when she saw his face, unbothered, and uninjured at the school gate, Jirou couldn't help but jump at him.
"J-J-Jirou?" Izuku stopped in his tracks once the sudden hug connected. He expected her to retain some modicum of secrecy about their relationship, a complete opposite to this public show of affection. "P-people are staring." His cheeks turned a full red as his eyes darted around.
"Dummy." This was all Jirou said, her head pressed against his chest. A silence louder than any explosion. Her cheeks warm, an anxious heartbeat racing.
Izuku, upon realizing the implication, simply put one hand on her back. Student onlookers watched in surprised confusion, these two seemingly disregarding them. Like if they were the only two people in the world.
The first semester's final exams rolled around. Most of class 1A passed, with a few exceptions. Surprisingly, the dysfunctional Izuku and Bakugo team managed to overcome the impossible obstacle. Oh right, they had to fight their teachers. Lord Explosion Murder and Deku overcame All Might in their examination. Even if those weights around his ankles heavily limited their teacher's movements, the result was impressive.
Jirou herself had involuntarily teamed up with Koda, an incredibly quiet guy in their class. He looked almost like a person made out of rock. Koda's quirk easily allowed them free passage through Present Mic, who passed out after various bugs crawled up his legs. The tomboy declined being princess carried by her teammate, she felt that was a little weird when being watched by Izuku on camera.
Nonetheless, everyone earned the right to attend Summer Camp, even those who failed. Aizawa had once again lied to them, apparently for encouragement. It may have aided in motivating some people to pass the exam, but it ultimately was a lie through and through. Maybe the class would closely question his credibility going forwards.
With that said, everyone now sat ready inside the bus heading over to the summer campsite.
The bus seating was as follows:
Uraraka next to Tsuyu
Bakugo next to Mina
Kaminari next to Tokoyami
Momo next to Todoroki
Jirou next to Izuku
The remaining students sat on the back seats together. Some stares pierced right through Jirou, who sat suspiciously close to Izuku.
"Say Jirou, you're awfully close with Midoriya aren't you?" Kaminari's head popped up from the seat behind them. His expression was completely innocent.
A collective 'urk' rang out from every girl present. They were worried about letting their collective secret leak, some of the boys may not react favorably to the news. They'd done pretty well for a few weeks, even with the two's hug in front of the school gate which was covered up as 'two friends hugging'. However, this was their hardest trial yet: a direct confrontation. Mina looked around at the worried expressions and prepared to interject when ….
"Oh, we're just close friends." Jirou calmly and openly answered the question. This seemed to have satiated Kaminari's curiosity.
"Rock on!" He did a thumbs up motion and then sat back down. A silent collective sigh followed. Mina chuckled to herself at the unneeded worry of every girl there. Jirou was certainly the most capable of the bunch when it came to keeping things secret.
The bus then came to a sudden stop on a mountain corner.
"We're getting out here." Aizawa, who slept the entire ride, stood up and walked out the door.
The body of students followed close behind. They looked around at the outside, seeing a spanning forest and the road they had been on. Below their feet was sand, a patch of it beside the pavement.
"Where's the campsite?" Kirishima put a hand perpendicularly to his forehead and looked around, scouting out their surroundings.
As the group started getting anxious, a limousine entered into view. It stopped rather violently in front of them and out of it came three …. Cat people? One woman with long blonde hair and another with short walnut colored hair stepped forwards. Their outfits were ridiculous, with white paws on their hands and feet. Yet, their extravagant appearance would soon be the least of the student's worries.
"WHY WOULD YOU HIT MIDORIYA'S SCROTUM?!" Iida grabbed Izuku supportively, and actively denounced the kid's actions. Jirou didn't know whether to laugh or be worried at the sight. The hit was direct, but she knew little about if those types of punches left a lasting effect. So she simply looked bewildered at what just transpired.
Not only did she lack knowledge about hitting someone's family jewels, she was exhausted from the hike earlier. Those cat women and cat man forced the class to go through a forest to get to their promised campsite. Along the way, they were met with various enemies resembling chimeras, made with the blonde woman's quirk. It was a grueling experience, heightened by the fact that it had to be done in order to arrive at the campsite.
"Why would anyone want to be a hero?" The kid who sucker punched Izuku's precious place dropped this remark as he walked away. Talk about an attitude.
"You good green?" Jirou approached Iida who rubbed the boy's back for relief. He still had a pained expression but it looked to have dissipated somewhat.
"Yup." His monosyllabic response came out breathy and dismissive. She knew that tone, like something else was on his mind despite his current predicament.
The rest of the afternoon went by quickly in comparison to their earlier trial through the woods. They all carried their luggage to the camp lodgings, which were separated by gender. Mina was as loud as always, she was charming but sometimes a bit overwhelming. She teased Jirou about what happened on the bus, something about a deer in headlights. Everyone reacted nervously once that resurfaced, apparently still worried about the boys one day finding out.
Then came the time to eat, and the girls made their way over to the meal area. When walking there, Jirou snuck a peek at Izuku's abs which were exposed after some of the boys jokingly raised his shirt up. He was deceptively built, those muscles looking…. She almost started drooling on the spot. Amongst these small moments, she noticed Momo was always apart from her. Normally, the heiress would be beside her, commenting on things that were presently happening. Ever since she got together with Izuku, Yaomomo was distant, maybe she felt her position threatened as a friend or maybe it was a different issue. Whatever the case, Jirou had no time to stop and converse with the rich girl privately.
Everyone enjoyed the first night's banquet, there was ample food for consumption and repetition. Jirou swore she saw Kirishima wolf down at least three plates by himself. The meal was a fun time all around, their class had gotten closer and closer as time went by. They felt like a unit now.
Then came the time to take a bath. The girls, being worried about someone peeking through the fence separating the baths, hired the kid from earlier as their lookout. He sat atop the fence, looking over the men's bath.
Nevertheless, Jirou was far more concerned about something else. She suspected as much, but she was the smallest amongst the class. This became clear when she walked inside the onsen last. For a while, that thought had escaped her mind, events surrounding her partner gave her enough bliss to sideline her feelings of inferiority as a woman. This snap back to reality put her back into that headspace. Was her body even attractive?
Also, how was Momo her same age? Her boobs were probably larger than Jirou's head. They drew attention from every girl there as well, long eye contact was maintained with those things. Apart from this supermodel-eseque woman, the other girls were no slouch when it came to size. Uraraka, Mina, Tsuyu all had bountiful pairs. Even Tooru's, who was invisible, were marked by the bath water, and she was nowhere near small.
She looked stone faced at the size difference. The minimal bath steam added to her growing insecurity. Jirou stood there, befuddled. The pink girl, through tracking the tomboy's eyes, picked up on the situation.
"Hey! Hey!" She sprung out of the water and skipped over to the entrance where Jirou stood. A sly smile appeared on her face. "Why worry about up here? When you have… this!" Mina first pointed at Jirou's chest, highlighting her lack of size. Then she reached behind, putting both hands on the punk rocker's hips and turning her around. Jirou's entire behind was visible to the bathing girls.
Before she could even realize what was occurring, her butt was in full view. A total of three gasps were heard.
"O-oh my." Yaomomo turned away almost instantly but she clearly still constantly stole glances. She put one hand up to her cheek in surprise.
"H-h-how?" Uraraka was a red mess and her pupils showed a hint of white. She looked like someone died right in front of her.
"S-sorry … I uh … didn't …." The culprit gulped as her breath got caught up on her throat. Mina looked down at Jirou's backside and swallowed hard. "... know it was …".
"Your BF must be super happy!" Hagakure splashed around in excitement, unconcerned by the revelation.
Jirou spun back around and quickly sat down inside the bath. She was understandably embarrassed, but a part of her was elated. It's not like she didn't know, she was aware of her posterior being proportionally larger than the rest of her body. In spite of that, her belief was that women and men alike placed higher value on the upper body. Now seeing the reaction to her rear, she instantly understood how wrong her previous line of thinking had been. For the first time, it felt like someone had acknowledged her having some womanly charm.
"S-sorry Kyo, I-" Mina started to apologize before being cut off.
"It's fine." Jirou flashed an earnest smile backwards. Her mood was through the roof as she relaxed her body inside the scorching onsen water.
The next few days were uneventful, as far as romance was concerned. Their training, however, became overwhelmingly difficult.
Their first three months at U.A. gave the group stronger mental fortitude, but that was it. 1A's physical progress had halted, and so the progression of quirks was in order. Everyone was given exclusive training regimens specifically designed to overcome glaring weaknesses. For example, Izuku's girlfriend, who had to repeatedly stab the side of a mountain over and over with her earjacks. Or Bakugo, who had to douse both hands in cold water and then release the largest explosion he could.
Everybody had such unique and different tasks. Except for Izuku, who got stuck doing calisthenics. At least it helped build up his body. He couldn't help his teacher misunderstanding One for All. The mysterious nature of the stockpile quirk trumped every predecessor, even All Might appeared to know very little on how to strengthen his successor. So he simply took this physical training as a blessing.
The days bled into each other, and their summer camp starts reaching its end. The last day had a silver lining, the test of courage. That event had multiple points of opportunity for the class to enjoy something other than training. Even class 1B, who was present this entire time, would slack off together with them.
The rivaling class was tasked with making the 'scary' part of the test. 1A was tasked with passing through that 'scary' part. Pretty simple through and through. As for the pairs, the group was made to draw lots to decide. Jirou's worst enemy that had previously tortured her with a Blonde Explosion Murderer had popped its ugly head back up again. She dreaded the partnering system as her hand reached into the box.
To every girl's surprise, she drew the same number as Izuku. Someone definitely rigged this to benefit her, but she couldn't care much. Alone, with him, in a dark forest. Jirou's mind started racing.
"Hey, uh, Kyoka." For a while she felt that his way of addressing her was distant. She would later have to correct that, but in front of all the boys her first name was probably for the best.
They waited for their turn patiently, Jirou's excitement to be alone with Izuku festering. Some screams wrung out deep into the test of courage's track. This was an elemented she had overlooked, her poor handling of horror. She fully understood how counterintuitive her other interests were in relation to how badly anything horror-related affected her. Noticing a nervous aura coming off his girlfriend, Izuku reached for her hand.
"I-It'll be fine, I'm here." His cheap, bootleg version of All Might's trademark phrase made her chuckle, breaking any distress that was forming. The greenie made her feel special, like her heart was completely full when near him.
"Sure, hero." She had a playful smile when saying this, also softly placing a closed fist on his shoulder. Their thing together was lowkey, sweet, heartwarming. Every day, she felt herself falling deeper and deeper in love.
Then, from behind some trees, two people appeared. At first, it seemed they were part of the test of courage. One looked like a lizard costume, and had a weirdly close resemblance to the hero killer. The other had an indiscriminate object wrapped in bandages and some sunglasses paired with an open pink shirt. Certainly looked the part, scary villain types. Just, who was under those costumes?
The two simply nonchalantly walked over to the main area where every student was present. After the people dressed like cats who oversaw the event put their arms to both sides and took on battle stances, it became abundantly clear. These people were outsiders.
On this day, U.A. was once again caught off guard.
To be continued…..
A/N
Hey readers, how's life?
I'm so sorry this took so long to finish. I struggled with how to retell Stain and the Final exams without really delving into those parts of mha. I felt like since there's little to no interaction with classmates during those parts, including them was extra. Moreover, I felt like I couldn't exactly add anything to those bits, it would be a bland retelling with some small changes in dialogue.
I also struggled with how to handle the fallout of actually starting a relationship between two characters, how other characters would react and if it would be made public. Alas, I think I bridged things pretty well despite those drawbacks.
Also, I'm not mentioning Twice once in this story. Why? I think he's literally a perfect character and I feel like me including him whatsoever inherently damages his story.
Next chapter will contain a very important event, probably more important than chapter 6's.
I'm open to any criticism
Have a good rest of your day.
The Grand Ballad.